QUARTERLY REPORT for the implementation of the PULSE Project

APRIL – JUNE, 2019 (I²I QUARTER OF US FISCAL YEAR 2019) FOURTEENTH QUARTER OF THE PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION QUARTERLY REPORT for the implementation of the PULSE Project

QUARTERLY REPORT for the implementation of the PULSE Project

April – June, 2019 (IІI Quarter of US Fiscal Year 2019)

fourteenth quarter of the Project implementation

2 April – June, 2019

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of abbreviations 4

Resume 5

Chapter 1. KEY ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE REPORTING QUARTER 5

Chapter 2. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION 7

ER 1: Decentralisation enabling legislation reflects local government input

Local government officials participate in sectoral legislation drafting 9

1.1.1. Preparation and approval of strategies for sectoral reforms 9

1.1.2. Preparation of sectoral legislation 24

1.1.3. Legislation monitoring 29

Resolving local government problem issues and promotion of sectoral reforms 30

1.2. Local governments and all interested parties are actively engaged and use 32 participatory tool to work on legislation and advocating for its approval

1.2.1 Support for approval of drafted legislation in the parliament: 32

1.2.2 Support for approval of drafted legislation in the parliament: tools for interaction with the Government of 39

1.3. Local governments improved their practice and quality of services because 57 of the sound decentralised legislative basis for local governments

1.3.1. Legal and technical assistance 57

1.3.2. Web-tools to increase the efficiency of local government activities 58

1.3.3. Feedback: receiving and disseminating 58

ER 2: Resources under local self-governance authority increased 60

2.1. Local self-governance own resources are increased ensuring local government 63 financial autonomy

2.1.1. Tools to increase own resources of local governments 63

2.1.2. Dissemination of best practices and replication of experience 64

2.2. Tools for local government to access additional financial resources are in place and 68 utilised

2.2.1. Capacity building for local government officials 68

2.2.2. Promotion of access to resources 68

ER 3: Capacity of stakeholders increased 70

3.1. Local governments and stakeholders are informed and capable of carrying out 71 new roles and responsibilities flowing from decentralisation reform

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3.1.1. Capacity building for local officials at the local level 71

3.1.2. Capacity building for local officials at the and rayon level 79

3.1.3. Training for NGOs’ representatives and librarians as the communicators of reforms 82

3.2. Communication and outreach of decentralisation reform is enhanced 85

3.2.1. Creating communication channels for central authorities outreach and messaging 85

3.2.2. Strategic messaging through different media 86

3.3. Increased public awareness of reform successes and trust in local governments 94

3.3.1. Supporting Offices for Reform Implementation Support 94

3.3.2. Identification and promotion of reform successes 96

3.3.3. Promotion of reform successes 97

3.3.4. Engaging young people and teenagers to decentralisation 98

Chapter 3. IMPLEMENTATION PROBLEMS AND BARRIERS 99

Chapter 4. SUCCESS STORIES 100

Chapter 5. COOPERATION WITH OTHER PROJECTS 111

Chapter 6. SUGGESTED PLAN OF ACTIVITIES FOR THE COMING QUARTER 117

Annexes 118 Annex А. Calendar of events of the PULSE Project conducted in April – June, 2019 Annex В. Cohort 3 of teams of representatives of libraries and non-governmental organisations conducting information events on citizen participation within the framework of the PULSE Project Annex C. List of sub-agreements with PULSE Project sub-partners

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AUC – Association of Ukrainian Cities AUC RO – Regional Office of the Association of Ukrainian Cities CAS – Center for Administrative Services CEC – Central Elections Commission CMU – Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine CSEA – central state executive authorities CTC – consolidated territorial community HCE – health care establishments IRC – inclusive resource center LGS – local governments MCU – Ministry of Culture of Ukraine MESU – Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine MFU – Ministry of Finance of Ukraine MHCU – Ministry of Health Care of Ukraine MIAU – Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine MLSPU – Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine MOTIDPU – Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally-Displaced Persons of Ukraine MRD – Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Municipal Utilities of Ukraine NASU – National Audit Service of Ukraine NEURC – National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission of Ukraine NFS – National Fiscal Service of Ukraine NGO – non-governmental organisation NSS – National Social Standards NSSN – National Social Standards and Norms PIT – personal income tax RLD – regulatory and legal document SEA – state executive authorities SMCA –State Military and Civilian Administration TCU – Tax Code of Ukraine UTG – Unified Tariff Grid UWLGA – Ukraine-Wide Local Government Associations

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RESUME

PULSE Project is working to develop a proper legal framework for decentralisation reform in Ukraine, ensuring that local governments contribute to decentralisation policy development and implementation, increase resources under local government authority and improve local government capacity to effectively use them enhancing the capacity and raising the professional level of key reform stakeholders involved.

This report provides the information about the Project implementation in April – June, 2019. The main achievements are presented in Chapter 1. List (calendar) of events is presented in Annex A. List of sub-agreements concluded by AUC with the Project sub-partners is presented in Annex В.

Chapter 1. KEY ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE REPORTING QUARTER AND CALENDAR OF EVENTS

During Quarter II, 2019:

• PULSE Project experts and analysts specialists prepared 21 draft regulatory and legal documents; • the of Ukraine and the Cabinet of Ministers approved and endorsed 13 regulatory and legal documents of importance for local self-governance, which were prepared with the participation of PULSE Project experts; • PULSE Project expert and analysts prepared 29 expert opinions to draft regulatory and legal documents the AUC received for concurrence from central state executive authorities; • PULSE Project expert and analysts prepared 27 expert opinions on draft regulatory and legal documents, which are being considered by committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; • PULSE Project expert and analysts participated in 24 meetings of 10 parliamentary committees; • PULSE Project expert and analysts participated in 11 meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and 22 meetings of Cabinet of Ministers Committees; x In the course of the discussion of draft agendas of the Cabinet of Ministers and its committees PULSE Project experts and analysts monitored 903 draft regulatory and legal documents, in particular: 59 draft legislation, 29 presidential decrees and directives, 708 resolutions and directives of the Cabinet of Ministers, 107 expert opinions on draft legislation, legislation implementation plans, etc. The draft regulatory and legal documents PULSE Project experts and analysts worked with included 312 (34.6%) documents dealing with local government issues; • PULSE Project organised and conducted 5 working sessions of AUC Professional Groups (157 participants); • PULSE Project organised and conducted 2 sectoral forums (130 participants); x On the eve of the Youth Day in Ukraine, PULSE Project published the booklet under the title: «YOUTH AND COMMUNITY: CHANGES FOR THE SAKE OF THE FUTURE». This compilation of SUCCESS STORIES offers 64 short stories about how decentralisation influences the life of young people in territorial communities. This publication was prepared and promulgated by the PULSE Project; x PULSE Project organised and conducted 27 legislation application laboratories with the participation of 540 local government representatives; x PULSE Project organised and conducted 34 press tours for regional mass media with the participation of 585 representatives of local and regional mass media; x PULSE Project organised and conducted 3 study tours at the national level with the participation of local government representatives and 28 study tours to AUC Regional Offices with the

6 April – June, 2019

participation of 575 local government representatives within the framework of the “Itinerary of Successes” nation-wide exchange study tour Project component; x PP1 regional consultants provided 2,479 consultations on legal and financial issues, as well as local economic development, which promoted the process of consolidation of territorial communities; x In the reporting year, PULSE Project continued implementation of give distance learning courses on the Prometheus Platform (www.prometheus.org.ua). All the courses demonstrated high popularity. The course on gender oriented budgeting demonstrated the highest rating: 7,809 (!) participating students, with 5,916 of those who received their certificates (or, 75.8%) All in all, since the very beginning of the distance learning courses project 19,445 persons took the training, with 8, 071 certified; x PULSE Project conducted 11 expert workshops for 389 representatives of rayon and oblast councils including 218 males and 171 females; x PULSE Project continued cooperation with partner projects and organisations; x PULSE Project participated in meetings of the Decentralisation Donor Board, in meetings of coordination boards of partner projects, as well as invited their representatives to PULSE Project events; x 70 pilot PULSE Project communities conducted 196 information events on citizen participation. 3,570 persons participated in them. The PULSE Project team prepared, elaborated and disseminated sets of information materials whose content was defined following consultations with Project participants; x the IREX/PULSE team continued to provide mentorship support to all 24 oblast library press clubs of Ukraine; x the IREX/PULSE team organised and conducted the webinar on health care in rural communities in the America House in ; and, x the IREX/PULSE team organised and conducted 12 for representatives of four types of media (TV, Internet, print media and radio) regional councils, PULSE Project regional consultants, and library press clubs.

In addition to this: • PULSE Project assisted in the establishment of 28 consolidated territorial communities comprising 246 populated areas; • with the assistance and expert follow-up support from the PULSE Project, 7 territorial communities of city of oblast significance annexed 12 rural territorial communities.

On June 30, 2019, the initial local elections took place in 66 consolidated territorial communities (7 city, 16 town, and, 43 CTCs) in 19 . These 66 CTCs have comprised 246 local councils (of cities – 9, of towns – 17, and of – 317), with 34 consolidated territorial communities waiting for the date of their initial elections to be scheduled. Project experts and consultants provided all the necessary assistance at all phases of the establishment of these CTCs.

The calendar of the PULSE Project events held in April - June, 2019 is presented in Annex A

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Chapter 2. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

Expected Result 1: Decentralisation enabling legislation reflects local government input

Overview of the overall context of implementation of the local government reform and reform of the territorial arrangement of government institutions The reporting quarter was characterised by an unusual increased tension of the political situation since the beginning of the project. Following the presidential elections campaign, which lasted, in its most active phase, for almost two of the three months of the reporting quarter (ended with the announcement of the results of the elections in early May), the newly elected President of Ukraine immediately in late May dissolved the parliament and appointed pre-term parliamentary elections on July 21, 2019. The process of approval of the legislation aimed at implementing the local government reform has stalled. The situation became more complicated by the complete fragmentation of practically all of the influencers of the reform, as well as politicians and key decision makers in various political forces who were involved in its implementation. This has practically stopped the progress of the reform, because the classical rule of the political competition does not envision giving electoral advantages to the rivals who could use the success of the reform in their favour. However, top-level politicians tried, albeit with varying degrees of success, to use the reform to gain their own political benefits. Aiming at continuing the process of decentralisation and strengthening the electoral support from reform supporters and local government representatives, the Prime Minister of Ukraine initiated the reduction of the number of civil servants in local state administrations by half and introduced a system of incentives for community consolidation for rayon center cities by granting them a special status. However, the PULSE Project expert believed that the implementation of such initiatives is unlikely, in particular, due to the beginning of the electoral process during the parliamentary elections.

However, the reform has not stopped completely (although such a trend is very likely). On June 30, 2019, the initial local elections took place in 66 consolidated territorial communities (the process of the establishment of 7 city, 16 town, and 43 village CTCs was completed) in 19 oblasts. These 66 CTCs have comprised 246 local councils (of cities - 9, of towns - 17, and of villages - 317), with another 34 CTCs waiting for their initial local elections to be scheduled. In general, as of July 01, 2019, 848 CTCs were established and functioned operated in Ukraine where elections took place. During the reporting quarter, seven additional cities of oblast significance gained benefits from community consolidation annexing 12 neighbouring territorial communities. Thus, the total number of CTCs is now 881 (848 + 33). In pursuance of the plan for the implementation of the new phase of the decentralisation reform, the Ministry of Regional Development started work on new versions of the laws on local elections, local self-governance, and local state administrations. PULSE Project consultants were involved in discussions about certain provisions of these draft laws. Given the delay in the approval of the new wording of the law on service in local governments, territorial communities remain dependent on Cabinet of Ministers decisions with regard to remuneration. As early as in January, 2019, the parliament changed the minimum salary level, while the Cabinet of Ministers re visited salaries for civil servants. The Cabinet of Ministers made its decision to revisit and actualise salaries for local government officials only in June. Apparently, these steps also had a certain electoral colouring. On June 12, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the Concept for the implementation of the national policy in the sphere of vocational (professional and technical) education for the period up to 2027. This regulation implies reforms in the system of vocational (professional and technical) education. In particular, the document offers a suggestion to change the mechanisms for its financial support. For example, the document offers a suggestion to engage in a step-by-step transition to financing vocational training institutions located on the territory of cities of oblast significance from oblast budgets.

8 April – June, 2019

Starting from May 22, the Trembita national system of electronic interaction started to work. The system is currently offers data exchange without a human factor, which significantly accelerates the process of service provision and reduces the possibility of mechanical errors and corruption risks. The first automatic Trembita data exchange took place between the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) and the State Service for Medicine and Drug Control (State Medical Service). At the end of June, the Cabinet of Ministers endorsed a populist decision to set cap prices for district heating and hot water supply services. PULSE Project experts believe that the endorsement of this decision was done with the intension to gain additional votes during the parliamentary elections for one of the political parties associated with a number of members of the current Cabinet of Ministers. The cap prices introduced by this regulation were far below the economically justified level. Such regulation may lead to halting the provision of these services to the population and may incur additional excessive expenditures from local budgets. PULSE Project experts and the Association of Ukrainian Cities have warned local governments and the public about the negative consequences that may result from the implementation of such a decision.

In general, the tendencies that characterise the financial situation of local budgets have an upward dynamics. During six months of 2019, the revenues to the general fund of local budgets of Ukraine increased by +21.1 billion UAH (or +19.6%) as compared to the same period in 2018 and amounted to 128.8 billion UAH. In particular, collections from the personal income tax amounted up to 77.2 billion UAH, which is +13.9 billion UAH (or + 22.0%) more than relevant collections during the relevant period of last year. Collections from the land fee constituted UAH 15.6 billion UAH (or + 23.4%). The actual collections from the flat tax constituted 16.2 billion UAH (+ 22.8%). The actual collections from the property tax constituted 2.1 billion UAH, (or + 32.3%). Source of information: https://www.kmu.gov.ua/ua/news/dohodi-miscevih-byudzhetiv-za-i-pivrichchya-2019-roku- zrosli-do-129-mlrd-grn-gennadij-zubko

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Activity 1.1. Local government officials participate in sectoral legislation drafting grounded on the European sectoral legislative principles

1.1.1. Preparation and approval of strategies for sectoral reforms

Each sector has a responsible Project expert to follow up on the sectoral profile: Each sectoral profile includes: - a list of regulatory and legal documents regulating the sector, - a long-term sector development strategy (for the next 7 - 10 years) and legislative map of its implementation, - a list of problem issues of sector which is regularly updated, and, - a list of ways to solve certain problems, which is also updated on a regular basis. The sectoral profile will serve as the basis for the preparation the relevant legislation both for the implementation of the sectoral development strategy and for resolving specific problem issues.

Progress in sectoral strategy implementation: During the reporting quarter, the Project managed to succeed in the following operational goals:

Regarding the Land Resources and Communally-Owned Property Strategy x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 3.1. "Institutionally implement the system of self-regulatory control over the use and protection of property", the Cabinet of Ministers endorsed amendments to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 284 of April 19, 1993 "On the Procedure for Calculation and Compensation of Losses for Land Owners and Land Users", which provided local governments with additional instruments to collect delayed payments from the land tax. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 3.2. "Application of the Mechanism for the Timely Detection of Objects of Abandoned Heritage and Abandoned Property", on June 05, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers endorsed Resolution # 479 "On Endorsing the Mechanisms for Taking Inventory of Lands and Considering Certain Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Void" to introduce the procedure for conducting inventory of land parcels by local governments aiming at registering agricultural lands, identification of the abandoned heritage, unclaimed and not distributed land shares (pais), etc.

Regarding the Social Protection Strategy x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 2.1. "Plan expenditures from local, state budgets and to Rise donor funds for Establishment of the material base of the Center's activities", the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of June 12, 2009, # 420-r, approved a subvention from the state budget to local budgets for the construction of transparent offices for 10 territorial communities in the general UAH 48 million. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 3.1. "Develop a system for early detection of illnesses, disability and difficult life circumstances", the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Directive # 350-p of May 22, 2019 "On Certain Issues for the Establishing a System for the Provision of Early Intervention Services to Ensure the Development of the Child, Preserving His/Her Health and Life". This document provides for the action plan for the implementation in 2019 – 2021 of the pilot project under the title: "Establishing a system for the provisions of early intervention services to ensure the development of the child and preserving his/her health and life”. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 5.1. "Delineate the powers of the state and local governments in the sphere of social protection and their funding", the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Resolution # 373 of April 17, 2019 «On Certain Issues of the Provision of Subsidies for the Payment for Housing and Municipal Utility Services in Cash". The regulation provides that the financing of privileges and subsidies will be performed exclusively through banks, rather than through local governments, as it was before. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 5.2. "Introduce an effective institute of oversight entities in the sphere of social protection", the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Resolution # 443 of May 22, 2019 "On Introducing Amendments to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 136 of February 18, 2016. The regulation introduced the Procedure for the verification and monitoring of the provision of pensions, allowances, benefits, subsidies, other social benefits.

10 April – June, 2019

Also, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Resolution # 458 of May 22, 2019 "On Approving the Regulations on the National Social Service of Ukraine". The regulation defines the rights of the national oversight entity in the sphere of social protection. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 5.3. "Optimise the number of benefits and categories of their recipients; monetise as many of privileges as possible", the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Resolution # 373 of April 17, 2019 «On Certain Issues of the Provision of Subsidies for Payment for Housing and Municipal Utility Services in Cash". The regulation provides for the monetisation of benefits for housing and municipal utility services.

Regarding the Public Education Strategy x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 1.1. "Specify in the law new standards and rules for the functioning of the education sector", Law of Ukraine # 2704-VIII "On Ensuring the Functioning of the as the State Language" of April 25, 2019 came into force. This legislation states that the only state (official) language in Ukraine is the Ukrainian language. This Law regulates the functioning and use of the Ukrainian language as a national one in the spheres of public life, as defined by this Law, throughout the territory of Ukraine, in particular in the field of education. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 1.4. "Promote an educational environment that will facilitate successes of students", the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Resolution # 214- p of April 03, 2019 "On Approving the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Concept for Training Specialists According to the Dual Form for Education". The regulation offers a suggestion to endorse the action plan for the implementation of the Concept of training specialists according to the dual form of education. The document speaks about the cooperation between vocational educational institutions and employers, strengthening the role of the on-the-job training, and preparation of standard work agreements. This move will improve the system of vocational training for students. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 1.5. "Bring new teaching staff", the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine # 415 of April 01, 2019 "On Certain Issues of the Organisation in 2019 of Competence development of Teachers in the Context of the Introduction of the National Policy in the Sphere of Reforming Comprehensive Secondary Education Called “New Ukrainian School””. The regulation resolves the issue of competence improvement and increasing qualification level of various categories of pedagogical workers who will have to implement the reform of the New Ukrainian School. This will improve their professional level, which in general will positively affect the quality of the provision of educational services. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 2.1. "Make a clear delineation of the powers of the state and municipalities in sphere of management of educational institutions", the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Resolution # 419-р of June 12, 2019 "On Approving the Concept for the Implementation of the National Policy in the Sphere of Vocational (Professional and Technical) Education for the Period till 2027". The regulation envisages the reform of the system of vocational (professional and technical) education. In particular, the document offers a suggestion to change the mechanisms of its financing. For example, the document will introduce a step-by-step transition to financing of vocational education establishments located on the territory of cities of oblast significance from oblast budgets. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 2.2. "Ensure physical accessibility to high quality educational services", the Cabinet of Ministers endorsed National Construction Codes B.2.2- 40: 2018 "Buildings and Edifices. Inclusiveness of Buildings and Premises. Main Provisions". The new regulations not only strengthens the requirement for barrier-free access, but also provides all the technical features and specific illustrative examples of such implementation taking into account the available international experience. In particular, with regard to the design of ramps, special lifts and other means of accessibility for people with musculoskeletal disorders; tactile and visual accessibility elements: tactile floor tiles, information charts with Braille script, audio pointers for people with visual impairments; other visual information, duplication of important sound information with texts, provision of oral transcription, use of sound amplification systems for people with hearing impairments and other important changes. Also, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine endorsed Directive # 423 of April 01, 2019 "On Approving a Model List of Special Means of Correction of Psychological and Physical Development of Children with Special Educational Needs Who Study in Special Groups in Pre-School Educational Establishments". The document describes the list of facilities and equipment, conditions for their use, and safety issues as described in the technical specification.

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x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 2.3. "Promote comfortable conditions for the provision of quality educational services", the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Resolution # 331 of April 17, 2019, "On Approving the Regulation for Providing Dormitory Accommodation to Persons Who Study in Vocational (Professional and Technical) Schools". The Resolution introduces the Procedure for the provision of dormitories to persons acquiring education in vocational (professional and technical) educational establishments. The document deals with the privileged enrolment of privileged students to educational establishments, ensuring the rights of persons from other cities, foreigners, and teachers. In addition to this, the document provides for the possibility of providing the temporary accommodation in dormitories for the persons who have been sent on a business trip to a vocational educational institution for a certain period. This will provide an opportunity to promote the comfortable conditions for students to receive vocational education. In addition to this, the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of June 19, 2019 "On Approving the Regulations on the School District and the Hub School" provides an opportunity for the provision of high-quality educational services to students, especially in rural areas. According to the new Regulations, the number of pupils in hub schools should be at least 200 persons. In other words, the institution concentrating the resources invested from several local budgets and the National Budget should offer highest quality education to as many children as possible. The educational district may include, in particular, inclusive resource centers and inter-school resource centers. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 2.4. "Upgrade the material, technical and educational base of educational institutions", the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Resolution # 319 of April 03, 2019 "On Certain Issues of the Provision of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for the Implementation of Activities Aimed at Increasing the Quality of Education". The document envisions a targeted subvention from the National Budget to local budgets for the procurement of computer equipment in the amount of 300 million UAH, school busses - 325 million UAH, Internet connection - 700 million UAH, and special vehicles for Inclusive Resource Centers - 175 million hryvnyas. All in all, the National Budget has envisioned 1.5 billion UAH for these purposes. Also, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Resolution # 530 of April 10, 2019 "On Approving the Mechanism for Organisation of Activities of Inclusive Groups in Pre-School Educational Establishments" to introduce the mechanism for arranging the work of inclusive groups in pre-school educational establishments. In particular, the document deals with the number of children in inclusive groups, peculiarities of the provision of psychological, pedagogical and correctional development services, as well as a list of documents for the enrolment of children with special educational needs to inclusive groups. This move will provide opportunities to ensure equal conditions for children with different needs in pre-school establishments. Also, the achievement of this Operational Goal was contributed by the endorsement of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 302 of April 10, 2019 “On Certain Issues of Using the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Upgrading and Modernisation of Material and Technical Base of Vocational Training Institutions in 2019". This document ensured the distribution of 50 million UAH. from the National Budget to oblast budgets and budgets of oblast center cities for upgrading the material and technical base of educational establishments. First of all, the document deals with opening of applied training centers in predetermined professions in the premises and on the basis of vocational educational institutions. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 376 of April 17, 2019 “On Certain Issues of the Provision of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Opening and Repairs of the Existing Sport Facilities at Comprehensive Educational Establishments of All Grades" also provides an opportunity to upgrade the material and technical base of comprehensive secondary educational establishments. The subvention is directed to the local level according to principle of co-financing from local budgets for the construction of new, reconstruction and capital repairs of the available gyms, facilities for physical education and sport lessons, swimming pools, stadiums, rifles, shooting facilities, sport fields, sport centers, sport grounds, and other open air facilities and complexes. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 3.2. "Improve the public assessment of the quality of educational services in institutions", with regard to improving the methodology for the assessment of the work of educational institutions, Directive of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine # 17 of January 09, 2019 "On Approving the Regulations for Conducting the Institutional Audit of Comprehensive Educational Establishments" came into force on April 16, 2019. The purpose of institutional audit is to evaluate the activities of schools and to make recommendations on improving the quality of educational activities and to improve the internal education quality assurance system, as well as to bring educational and managerial processes in line

12 April – June, 2019

with the requirements of the legislation. The Regulations provide that institutional audit is carried out by the National Service for Quality of Education and its territorial entities. This is the only planned activity of the state supervision (control) aimed at assessing the activities of schools and making recommendations for improving the quality of educational activities and improving the internal education quality assurance system, as well as bringing educational and managerial processes in line with the requirements of the legislation. The institutional audit will be performed out once every ten years.

What is being implemented:

with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 1.1. " Specify in legislation the new requirements and rules for the education sector", on May 30, 2019, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved in the first reading the draft Law of Ukraine "On Completed Comprehensive Secondary Education" (Registration # 10204 of April 05, 2019) developed with the participation of the PULSE Project expert. At the moment, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Science and Education has established a working group to finalise this draft law for the second reading. The analyst PULSE Project is a member of this group. Also, on June 06, 2019, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the Law "On Professional Pre-Higher Education" (Registration # 8321-д of March 01. 2019), which outlined the regulatory and legislative framework for the activities of colleges and technical schools. The President of Ukraine is expected to sign this document.

Regarding the Health Care Strategy x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 1.2. "Finance the sector based on the actual health care services provided and on a contractual basis" and Operational Goal 2.3. "Introduce state guaranteed amount of free health care assistance", starting from April 01 till December 31, 2019, the government, acting in accordance with Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 131 of February 27, 2019 “On Certain Issues of the Implementation of the Pilot Project for the Implementation of State Guarantees for Providing Health Care Services to the Population According the Program of Health Care Guarantees for Secondary (Specialised) Health Care in the Oblast” is implementing a pilot project for the introduction of state guarantees of health care for the population within the framework of the program of health care guarantees for secondary (specialised) health care in the . 56 health care institutions are providing a guaranteed scope of secondary health care. The payment is performed by the National Health Service of Ukraine for each treatment case. The National Budget has envisioned the health care subvention in the amount of 966.7 million hryvnyas for these purposes. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 2.3. " Introduce the state-guaranteed scope of free health care", the Cabinet of Ministers endorsed Resolution # 425 of May 22, 2019 “On Certain Issues of the Implementation of the Pilot Project for the development of the System of Emergency Health Care in the Vinnytsya, Donetsk, Odesa, Poltava, Oblasts and in the City of Kyiv and Opening of Quick Response Dispatcher Services”. For this purpose, the National Budget has envisioned the health care subvention in the amount of 922.5 million hryvnyas. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 3.2. «The development of a modern medical information management system within the framework a unified national health care space", the government has envisioned the introduction of electronic instruments for exchange of medical, financial and statistical information. This is necessary for the proper functioning of a single national medical space (electronic registers, data exchange protocols, coding systems for diagnoses and procedures, etc.). Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 134, # 135 and # 136 of February 27, 2019 envision that starting from April 01, 2019, the workflow related to the conclusion, modification and termination of the agreement for the reimbursement of medicine will be performed through the electronic health care system and exclusively according to electronic recipes. Also, Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 328 of April 17, 2019 has resolved some issues regarding the maintenance of the electronic register of disability sheets and providing information from it. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 3.3 "Implement an effective disease prevention system at the primary level", which envisions the establishment of an effective system for the prevention of morbidity through the promotion of regular medical examinations, screenings, and vaccinations according to Directive of the Ministry of Health Care of Ukraine # 958 of April 23, 2019 "On Introducing Changes to the Calendar of Preventing Vaccination in Ukraine” registered in the Ministry of Justice on April 25, 2019, under # 442/33413. The document allows to vaccinate

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adults without age restrictions if they have not had measles, epidemic mumps, and rubella with the vaccines procured centrally at the expense of public funds.

Regarding the Local Finance Strategy x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 4.2 "Introduction of budget regulations in the work of local councils" and Operational Goal 4.3 "Implementation of multi-year planning at the level of main spending units of local budgets", the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, in cooperation with PULSE Project experts, has prepared Methodological recommendations on the preparation and approval of the Budget Regulations for the budget process at the local level. As a result of the joint work carried out by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, on May 31, 2019, the government endorsed the relevant recommendations that will enhance the competence of local governments in issues related to multi-year planning.

Regarding Sustainable Economic Development Strategy In the reporting quarter, the PULSE Project managed to succeed in the following operational goals: x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 1.2 "Increasing the institutional capacity local government representatives and municipal community development institutions in the sphere of strategic planning of community development", PULSE Project regional consultants provided 209 consultations including the preparation of strategies for the development of territorial communities and plans for their implementation. In the reporting quarter, one 1 pilot CTC of 30 CTCs approved its strategy. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 2.2. "Simplifying access for entrepreneurs to leasing or purchasing communally-owned property", the PULSE Project has established cooperation with the ProZorro.Sales State Enterprise to help the latter to conduct workshops on the use of the ProZorro.Sales e-commerce system for the sale of communally-owned property items. Such seminars will be held during workshops on the application of legislation organised by AUC Regional Offices. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 2.1 "Support for the development of transport and road infrastructure", the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed: o CMU Resolution # 541 of June 26, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to Paragraph 7 of the Regulations for the Preparation, Evaluation and Selection of Winning Investment Promotion Programs and Regional Development Projects and Projects of the Ukraine-Wide Public Budget Competition", Which May Be Implemented at the Expense of the Funds of the National Regional Development Fund”. The resolution has extended the closing date for the implementation of the projects, which for objective reasons were not completed within certain time limits (up to 3 years); o CMU Resolution # 345 of June 24, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 1068 of November 25, 2015”, which will promote the effective use of funds within the framework of the implementation of the Extraordinary Crediting Program for the restoration of Ukraine. The purpose of this program is to resolve the problems related to the restoration of infrastructure facilities that were destroyed as a result of military activities in eastern regions of Ukraine. The resolution provides for the additional distribution of the subvention to 16 budgets; o CMU Resolution # 472 of June 05, 2019 “On Approving the Procedures for Using the Funds Envisioned in the National Budget for Restoration of Transportation Infrastructure of the Surveillance Zone”; o CMU Resolution # 457 of April 03, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 196 of March 18, 2015”, which improves approaches to the preparation, evaluation and selection of investment programs and regional development projects that are implemented at the expense of the funds of the National Regional Development Fund. In particular, the Resolution outlines the mechanisms for the selection and funding of winning projects of the All-Ukrainian Budget competition. In 2019, the Law on the State Budget has envisioned 500 million UAH for these projects and in subsequent years the amount of funds will be determined at the level of 10% of the amount of the NRDF; o CMU Directive Order # 365-р of June 05, 2019 “On Certain Issues of the Distribution in 2019 of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Social and Economic Development of Certain Territories”. The Directive has specified the list of local budgets,

14 April – June, 2019

which will receive the subvention in 2019; introduced changes to the list of facilities (activities); and clarified the names and scope of financing of selected facilities (activities); o CMU Resolution # 361-р of May 15, 2019 “On Investment Promotion Programs and Regional Development Projects to Be Implemented in 2019 at the Expense of the Funds of the National Regional Development Fund”, which has endorsed funding from the National Regional Development Fund for 340 projects; o CMU Resolution # 307-р of May 08, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to the Annex of Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 735 of September 11, 2007”, which has endorsed changes to the list of automobile roads whose sections will be transferred from the ownership of territorial communities of cities and towns to the state-owned property and assigned to the sphere of management of the UkrAvtoDor, which will eventually improve the quality of such automobile roads; o Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of April 24, 2019 # 280-р “On Approving the Distribution of the Amount of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Infrastructure Improvements of Consolidated Communities in 2019”. According to the document, the funds are distributed to the budgets of 806 consolidated territorial communities in the proportion to their area and the number of rural population with the equal weight of both of these factors; and, o Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of April 03, 2019 # 232-p "On Approval of the Conception of the Development of Mountainous Areas of the Ukrainian Carpathians". The purpose of the document is to introduce an integrated approach to resolving problem issues related to the development of mountainous territories that will establish the necessary organisational, legal and financial prerequisites for their balanced development. During the reporting quarter, the Association of Ukrainian Cities and All-Ukrainian Road Association actively developed the methodology for selecting decent sub-contractors, road construction companies, and other companies engaged in the sphere of road management, which have a positive image and relevant work experience. The purpose of such an approach is to resolve the problems with the permanent failure to comply with timeframes of construction and repair works, which must be performed within the road construction season. The PULSE Project expert on local economic development is a member of the working group on the preparation of criteria and methodology for putting together the Register of Decent Road Maintenance Companies. In the meantime, the PULSE Project has started to put together the formation of the Register of Decent Road Maintenance Companies, which will consist of three groups: road construction companies; manufacturers and dealers of road construction machinery; and, manufacturers and dealers of road construction materials. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 4.2 "Market analysis and information sharing with businesses", the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Resolution # 452 of May 22, 2019 ”On Approving the Regulations for Determining Categories of Cultural Monuments”, which defines the categories of monuments to be included in the list of cultural heritage items in the national register of immovable monuments. The introduction of such a register is important for local governments, because, as practice shows, the absence of such a register does not provide opportunities to make follow-up steps to preserve the cultural heritage. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 4.1 "Simplification of investment conditions", the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Resolution # 352 of April 24, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to the Regulation for Preparing, Approving, Endorsing and Introducing Amendments to Construction Standards and Considering Them Void”. The document provides for the optimisation of the procedure and timeframe for the preparation of construction standards, namely: reduction of the total period of their preparation from one year and six months to ten months.

Regarding the e-Governance and Public Services Strategy x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goal 1.1. "Eliminating substantial and procedural issues of the legislation on access to public information”, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Resolution # 409 of April 17, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Regarding Open Data”, which introduces amendments to CMU Resolution # 835 of October 21, 2015 and CMU Resolutions # 867 of November 30, 2016, in particular, the number of data sets with the mandatory requirements to be open increases from 616 to almost 900. For example, the information subject to mandatory promulgation includes registered transportation vehicles information regarding the remaining immunobiological substances in various regions of Ukraine (remaining vaccines), as well as the data from the systems for reviewing permits

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and from a unified register of environmental impact assessment. In addition to this, the document introduces indicators for assessing the development of open data state executive authorities and local governments. x with regard to the achievement of Operational Goals 2.2 "Optimising the current public services to reduce the number of appeals", 2.4 " Simplification of procedures for the provision of public services (application, processing, obtaining the result)", 2.5 "Automation of public services", 3.3 "Preparing and maintenance of e-governance systems in all local governments", and 3.1 " Ensuring 100% feeding and constant update of public registers and databases", one has to mention the start of the national Trembita electronic interaction system on May 22. The system is currently exchanging data without the participation of a human being, which significantly accelerates the process of providing services, reduces the possibility of mechanical errors and corruption risks. The first automatic data exchange through the Trembita system took place between the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) and the National Service for Medicine and Drug Control (State Medical Service). Starting with April 24, the payment and production of individual license plates for transportation vehicles is performed on line, while one can get a ready-made license plate at the nearest post office. The Project updated the Current Legislative Framework sections of the following sectoral profiles (See Table 1.1): Table 1.1. Updates to the current legislative framework for sectoral profiles

Technical area Titles of regulatory and legal documents Titles of regulatory and legal documents added excluded Decrees of Decrees of instructions instructions the CMU CMU the CMU CMU Laws of Laws of President resolutions directives President resolutions directives ministries ministries of Ukraine of Ukraine Local finance 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 Public 0 1 10 4 4 0 0 1 0 0 education Social 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 protection Organisational 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 aspects and professional development Housing and 0 0 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 municipal utilities E-governance 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 and public services Land relations 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 Health care 0 3 12 4 10 0 0 0 2 0 Sustainable 0 0 6 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 economic development TOTAL 0 4 39 15 18 0 0 2 2 0

Of the problem issues, which were resolved during the reporting period, one should mention the following:

In the sector of social protection: Completely resolved:

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x The problem of insufficient funds in local budgets to pay the advance payment for the implementation of court ruling. Ruling of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine # 2-р (II)/2019 of May 15, 2019 eliminates the need to pay such advance payment.

Partially resolved: x The problem of providing cities of oblast significance with specially equipped vehicles for transportation of persons with disabilities at the expense of the National Budget. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 505 of June 12, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to the Regulation for the Use of Funds Envisioned in the National Budget for the Procurement of Automobiles with Special Equipment to Transport Persons with Disabilities and Children with Disabilities Who Have Disorders of the Musculoskeletal System” provides the opportunity for cities over 50 thousand population to receive specially equipped vehicles for transportation of persons with disabilities at the expense of the National Budget.

In the sector of public education: Completely resolved: x Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 319 of April 03, 2019 “On Certain Issues of the Provision of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for the Implementation of Activities Aimed at Increasing the Quality of Education” has resolved the problem with the lack of buses for the transportation of students including those with special educational needs. The document envisions a targeted subvention from the National Budget to local budgets for the procurement of school buses in the amount of 325 million UAH and of special vehicles for inclusive resource centers in the amount of 175 million UAH. The funds will be directed to oblast budgets and will be distributed by decisions of oblast state administrations decisions between rayon budgets, budgets of cities of oblast significance, and consolidated territorial communities.

Partially resolved: x The problem with insufficient funds in local budgets to upgrade the material and technical base of educational establishments including computer software was partially resolved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 319 of April 03, 201 “On Certain Issues of the Provision of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for the Implementation of Activities Aimed at Increasing the Quality of Education”. In particular, the National Budget has allocated funds for local budgets for the procurement of computer equipment in the amount of 300 million UAH, as well as 700 million UAH for connection to the Internet. x Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 302 of April 10, 2019 “On Certain Issues of Using the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Upgrading and Modernisation of Material and technical Base of Vocational Training Institutions in 2019” has partially resolved the issue of financing of vocational (professional and technical) educational establishments. The resolution has provided 50 million UAH from the National Budget to oblast budgets and budgets of oblast center cities for upgrading the material and technical base of these educational establishments. x Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 376 of April 17, 2019 “On Certain Issues of the Provision of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Opening and Repairs of the Existing Sport Facilities at Comprehensive Educational Establishments of All Grades” has partially resolved the issue of upgrading the material and technical base of educational establishments, in particular sports facilities and gyms. x Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 419-р of June 12, 2019 “On Approving the Concept for the Implementation of the National Policy in the Sphere of Vocational (Professional and Technical) Education» for the Period till 2027” has started a change in the mechanisms for its financing. For example, the document envisions a step-by-step transition to financing of vocational training institutions located on the territory of cities of oblast significance from oblast budgets. This provides opportunities to foresee the decision on transferring of vocational (professional and technical) educational establishments located in city of oblast significance to funding from oblast budgets.

In the sector of health care: Partially resolved:

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x The problem issue with the biased distribution of the additional subsidy to pay for the expenditure categories shifted form the National Budget to local budgets for maintenance of educational and health care establishments was partially resolved. Directives of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 141-p of March 13, 2019, # 290-p of May 08, 2019, # 386-p of June 05, 2019, and # 387-p of June 05, 2019 introduced changes to the distribution of the additional subsidy to pay for the expenditure categories shifted form the National Budget to local budgets for maintenance of educational and health care establishments between local budgets for the Zaporizzhya, Kirovograd, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Cherkasy oblasts. x The problem with the outdated system of certification of doctors was partially resolved. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 95-p of February 27, 2019 has endorsed the Strategy for the Development of Medical Education in Ukraine. Also, Directive of the Ministry of Health Care of Ukraine # 446 of January 22, 2019 “On Certain Issues of Continuous Professional Training of Doctors” registered in the Ministry of Justice on March 25, 2019 under # 293/33264 has endorsed a new mechanism for certification of doctors in order to check their continued professional development. x The problem issue with the lack of the electronic medical information exchange system was partially resolved. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 134 of February 27, 2019 has introduced amendments to a number of resolutions, namely: # 410 of April 24, 2018, # 117 of April 23, 2014, and # 1548 of February 25, 1996, in the part dealing with the simplification of the mechanism to conclude health care contracts according to the program of health care guarantees. In particular, the government has shortened list of electronic documents to be submitted to the NHSU, reduced the number of annexed, introduced the advance payment for specialised health care, depersonalised the data published by the NHSU on its website, etc. CMU Resolutions # 135 and # 136 of February 27, 2019 envisage the reimbursement for drugs prescribed exclusively through electronic recipes issued through the electronic health care system starting from April 01, 2019. Also, CMU Resolution # 328 of April 17, 2019 has resolved some issues of maintenance of the electronic register of disability sheets and providing information from it.

In the sector of local finance: Partially resolved: x The problem of biased distribution of the additional subsidy to pay for the expenditure categories shifted form the National Budget to local budgets for maintenance of educational and health care establishments the implementation of expenditures transferred from the state budget for the maintenance of educational and health facilities in the Ivano-Frankivsk, Kirovograd, and Cherkasy oblasts was partially resolved. During the reporting quarter, the amount of the subsidy was increased in the Zaporizzhya oblast: for budgets of cities of oblast importance by 68 million UAH (Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 141-р of March 13, 2019,); in the Cherkasy oblast: for budgets of cities of oblast significance by 10.0 million UAH, for budgets of CTCs by 40 million UAH (Directive of the CMU # 387-p of June 05, 2019,); in the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast: for budgets of cities of oblast significance by 0.4 million UAH, for budgets of CTCs by 1.3 million UAH (Directive CMU # 386-р of June 05, 2019).

In the sphere of housing and municipal utility services: Completely resolved: x The problem issue "Lack of the mechanism of application of enforced collections of the fine for late payment for housing and municipal utility services". With the enactment of Law of Ukraine # 2189- VIII “On Housing and Municipal Utility Services” of November 09, 2017 on May 01, 2019, providers of housing and municipal utility services received an opportunity to apply penalties in the form of fines to consumers of services who do not pay for them in a timely manner. Charging fines will provide incentives for the consumers to timely pay their bills.

x The problem issue "Absence of the methodology for calculating losses of heat while transporting hot water through in internal building systems of hot water supply". The Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 291 of April 03, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 869 of June 01, 2011” took into account the provisions of the Methodology for determining technological standards of costs and losses of hot water in centralised hot water supply systems. The Resolution was approved by Directive of the Ministry of Regional

18 April – June, 2019

Development # 86 of April 10, 2018. Thus, heat supply companies now have the possibility to include technological losses into the tariff for the hot water supply service.

Partially resolved: x The problem issue "Absence of regulatory and legal documents to support the implementation of the new wording of the Law of Ukraine “On Housing and Municipal Utility Services”, which entered into force on May 01, 2019”. Thanks to the endorsement of Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 482 of June 05, 2019 “On Approving the Regulation for Recalculation of the Cost of Apartment Block Management Service for the Period It Was not Provided and the Provision of Poor Quality Service”, the government has introduced a mechanism for the recalculation of the cost of a low-quality service, or complete failure to provide a apartment block maintenance service.

x The problem issue “Unproportional financial burden on local budgets associated with the necessity to establish devices for remote transmission of data of natural gas consumption meters in institutions and organisations of the public sector”. Thanks to the endorsement of Resolution # 750 of May 17, 2019, the NEURC has abolished the necessity for non-residential consumers of natural gas with the consumption volume of less than 10 thousand m3 per year, which installed gas meters of several common models, to equip them with remote data transmission devices.

In the sphere of land relations Completely resolved: x The problem issue “No powers of village and town councils to exercise local government control on their respective territories and to collect debt on land tax payments”. The Cabinet of Ministers endorsed amendments to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 284 of April 19, 1993 “On the Procedure for Calculation and Compensation of Losses for Land Owners and Land Users”, which provided local governments with additional instruments for collecting debts on land tax payments.

Table 1.2. Current status of problem solutions by each sectoral profile over the reporting period

Resolved or removed As of the As of the end of due to optimisation of Sectoral profile beginning of the Added the reporting previously identified reporting period period problems Local budgets and 20 3 0 23 financial foundations of local self- governance Housing and 46 1 2 45 municipal utilities Land relations 25 1 1 25 Organisational 26 0 0 26 aspects and capacity building Social protection 18 4 2 20 Health care 12 21 3 30 Public education 28 5 1 32 Local economic 15 0 0 15 development E-governance and 19 0 0 19 public services

Meetings of AUC Professional Groups AUC Public Education Professional Group April 11 - 12, 2019, city of Ternopil The event brought together 25 representatives of departments for education of AUC member-communities, Ternopil City Mayor, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada

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Committee on Science and Education, and approximately 20 heads and directors of educational institutions of the city of Ternopil. In the course of the round table discussion the participants dwelt upon a number of important issues in the sector of education that need to be resolved: - shortage of the education subvention in 2019 and the necessity of changing the formula for its calculation; - the need to have a targeted state subvention from the National Budget for National Schools; - raising salary rates of directors of educational institutions, their deputies, technical workers of education management departments and young specialists; - lack of sufficient resources in local budgets to promote the development of out-of-school educational institutions, construction of pre-school establishments, purchase of buses to transfer children, in particular those with special educational needs; - the need to reimburse the cost of training in educational establishments for the children whose parents are not members of the territorial communities; - the need to introduce amendments to the legislation on tender procurement, in particular in the part of dealing with arrangement of meals for children; - lack of qualified staff and the need to change model manning schedules of educational institutions, in particular, to introduce the positions of nurses, drivers and other positions; - functioning of vocational education institutions in the oblast center cities and transferring their funding to the oblast budget level; - the need to change the labour legislation for directors of educational institutions who work according to permanent employment contracts; - ensuring the guaranteed volume of 150 hours professional development for teachers for the, to take attestation, as well as guaranteeing them their right to choose an educational establishment where they take competence development training; - introducing the targeted education tax for developers in the course of the construction of social infrastructure facilities, because the developer cost share contribution funds go not for the construction of educational establishments, but also for other facilities; - the need for state support to guarantee fire safety in educational establishments; - abolishing the random selection of applicants for vacant slots for Grade 1 in educational establishment and replacing it with another mechanism; - use of outdated methods for exercising control over activities of educational establishments by representatives of the National Service for Quality of Education of Ukraine; - sources of funds to pay for business trips of teachers involved in the assessment of the performance of teachers who take certification, and, in this regard, replacing in lessons during the educational process; - ensuring compliance with the national standard for senior school education, since its implementation requires a timely preparation of the appropriate material and technical base of educational establishments and the appropriate selection of staff; - the reduction of the amount of the education subvention in 2019 as compared to 2018 for the procurement of furniture and equipment within the framework of the New Ukrainian School in cities with a simultaneous increase in the number of primary school pupils will not make it possible to conduct all the procurement as originally guaranteed by the Cabinet of Ministers; - the need for the introduction of the competitive selection of applicants for a senior specialised education school, etc. Working within the framework of the meeting of the AUC Public Education Professional Group, the participants attended a hands-on workshop to study how school headmasters and directors of educational establishments of cities conduct their managerial and project activities, in particular, in such spheres as inclusive education, national and patriotic education of students, as well as became familiar with the international cooperation of Ternopil in the sector of education. At the end of the meeting, the participants summarised their work and discussed the postponement of the next meeting of the AUC Public Education Professional Group for October, 2019 in Odesa.

AUC Housing and Municipal Utilities Professional Group May 16 - 17, 2019. The meeting brought together 31 representatives of local governments from 11 (predominantly directors and deputy directors of departments for housing and municipal utilities) and directors of municipal utility companies of the city of Cherkasy and the Cherkasy oblast.

20 April – June, 2019

The meeting participants discussed the preparation of draft regulatory and legislation documents and already adopted regulations pursuant of the Law of Ukraine "On Housing and Municipal Utility Services". Also, the participants engaged in the active discussion of the draft law "On Introducing Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Regulation of Certain Issues in the Sphere of Provision of Housing and Municipal Utility Services" (Registration # 10228 of April 12, 2019). The purpose of the draft law is to resolve the issues related to the enactment of the Law of Ukraine "On Housing and Municipal Utility Services". In addition to this, the participants of the event also discussed the following: - failure of the state to fulfill its obligations to compensate the privileges and subsidies it has granted, as well as the debts on the difference in tariffs; - ineffective pricing policy; - abuse of the monopoly position by energy supply companies; - instability of the legislative framework for the sector of housing and municipal utilities; - consequences of monetisation of subsidies at the level of consumers; and, - negative consequences of untimely approval of the regulatory framework for the implementation of the Laws of Ukraine “On Housing and Municipal Utility Services” and “On Commercial Accounting of Heating Energy and Water Supply”. At the end of the meeting of the Professional Group, representatives of the executive bodies of the Cherkasy City Council and directors of municipal utility companies of the Cherkasy City Council familiarised the meeting participants with the experience in implementing investment projects in the sector of housing and municipal utilities, both at the expense of the local budget funds and at the expense of the funds of international financial organisations.

According to the results of the meeting, the city representatives and the PULSE Project expert prepared specific proposals for resolving the most important issues in the sector of housing and municipal utilities.

AUC Social Protection Professional Group May 16 - 17, city of More than 40 representatives of local governments, representatives of the Oblast State Administration, Kyiv City State Administration, and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy participated in the event. The Professional Group meeting participants discussed the following issues: • A heavy burden on local government officials and community service providers with regard to reporting. • Issues of the application the new version of the Procedure for granting subsidies in cash. • Potential threat with the National Register of Recipients and Providers of Social Services, which is prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy in pursuance of the Law of Ukraine "On Social Services", being not practical for use by local governments. • Potential threat with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy being not able to prepare and endorse the well-prepared regulatory and legal documents in pursuance of the Law of Ukraine "On Social Services". 2. The event participants decided: • To review, in cooperation with PULSE Project experts, the reporting documents collected by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy from local governments with the purpose of optimising it; review national standards for the provision of social services and increase the timeframe for revising (re-defining) individual needs to once a year or as necessary. • To elaborate, in cooperation with PULSE Project experts, amendments to the procedure for granting subsidies in cash. • Involve PULSE Project experts in developing the State Register of recipients and providers of social services. • To accelerate the preparation of rdls1 to support the implementation of the Law of Ukraine "On Social Services" and to involve PULSE Project experts to the preparation of these regulatory and legal documents.

AUC Health Care Professional Group May 23 - 24, 2019, cities of Ivano-Frankivsk and Yaremcha. The meetings brought together 27 participants, including representatives from 27 cities of 24 oblasts of Ukraine (director of structural subdivisions of city councils on health care issues). Deputy Minister of Health Pavlo Kovtonyuk, Head of the National Health Service Oleh Petrenko and Advisor to the Acting Minister of Health Care Matviy Khrenov attended the event. The meeting participants raised a number of key health care issues, in particular:

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- shortage of health care subvention to cover the expenditure categories associated with the treatment of patients with diabetes mellitus, renal failure, salaries, as well as maintenance of health care establishments transferred from the National Budget to local budgets; - lack of consistency in terminology in the basic health care legislation, in particular, in the part dealing with the development of the network of state-owned and communally-owned health care institutions, approval of decisions on its optimisation, establishment, reorganisation and changing the specialisation of state-owned and communally-owned health care institutions with the terminology of the Civil Code of Ukraine defining the forms of reorganisation of health care establishments; - absence of the legislation on state guarantees of health care under the program of health care guarantees at the secondary care (with regard to their introduction as of 2020); - imperfect formula to determine the composition of the hospital district board approved by Directive of the Ministry of Health # 165 of February 20, 2017, namely: the majority of the board is composed in such a way that even small communities (3,000 – 5,000 inhabitants) have their representatives, while centers of hospital districts representing more than half of the inhabitants of the district are the minority (the number of representatives of small CTCs is bigger than the number of representatives from cities with much larger population), thus leading to a misbalanced composition of the composition of the hospital board and ineffective work on optimisation and transformation of low-capacity hospitals; - the need to set up a network of health care establishments within the hospital districts with a priority focus on the needs of communities, local government powers at the community and rayon levels, etc.

AUC Local Economic Development Professional Group May 30 - 31, 2019, city of The meeting brought together 34 representatives of local governments of 29 territorial communities from 13 oblasts of Ukraine including city and town mayors, deputy mayors, and directors of departments for economic development. In the course of the meeting, the participants learned: • best practices of local economic development using examples of such cities as Chernihiv, Rivne, Ladyzhyn, Pokrovsk, Mena, and Zhytomyr; • instruments used by local governments to attract investments, open jobs, establish cooperation in the government-citizens-businesses system, etc.; • issues of legislative regulation in the sector of local economic development; and, • work of the PULSE Project and the Association of Ukrainian Cities in the legislative process with regard to local economic development. Following the meeting of the AUC Professional Group, the participants prepared joint proposals for amending the current legislation regulating the sector of local economic development. In particular, they offered the following ideas: • to resolve the issues of payment of the personal income tax at the place of actual economic activity of companies, rather than at the place of their tax registration; • to exercise control of the payment of the personal income tax by National Fiscal Service and to change some of the provisions of the Tax Code of Ukraine; • to oblige the National Fiscal Service to submit to local governments the information about the taxes and fees paid on the respective territories and the amount of the tax debt of each taxpayer; • to amend Articles 29, 64, 66 of the Budget Code of Ukraine to change (to increase) rates of personal income tax collections going to budgets of territorial communities; • in the context of the preparation of the draft Law on amendments to Section XX "Transitional Provisions" of the Tax Code of Ukraine (development of domestic production by promoting investments in the real sector of the economy through industrial parks) (Registration # 2554 а-д of August 31, 2015) to vest local governments with the right to set preferential rates for industrial park residents on tax on immovable property other than land, land tax and lease of communally-owned and state-owned lands where the industrial park is located; • to terminate the land use right of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine for the land plots, which: become vacant in the course of of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; are not used according to their designation; and, with immovable property transferred by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine to the communal ownership of territorial communities, and to transfer such land plots to the communal ownership. It is also necessary to take a complete inventory of lands of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.

22 April – June, 2019

1.1.2. Preparation of sectoral legislation

During the reporting quarter, PULSE Project experts prepared 21 draft regulatory and legal documents including: x 1 draft regulatory and legal document prepared exclusively by PULSE Project experts; x 15 draft regulatory and legal documents, with comments and proposals to them submitted in the course of the concurrence of these documents in the manner specified by the Law of Ukraine “On Local Government Associations”, or as expert opinions; and, x 5 draft regulatory and legal documents, which prepared within the framework of working group at central state executive authorities

During the reporting quarter, the Cabinet of Ministers and Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved 13 regulatory and legal documents, which are important for local self-governance. PULSE Project experts participated in the preparation of these documents: 1. Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language" # 2704-VIII of April 25, 2019. This legislative act rules that the only national (official) language in Ukraine is the Ukrainian language. This Law regulates the functioning and use of the Ukrainian language as the state language in the spheres of public life, in particular, in the education sector. The draft law was prepared with the participation of a PULSE Project expert who was a member of the Expert Group on Language Policy set up under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. 2. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 302 of April 10, 2019 “On Certain Issues of Using the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Upgrading and Modernisation of Material and technical Base of Vocational Training Institutions in 2019”. The resolution allocated 50 million UAH from the National Budget to oblast budgets and budgets of oblast center cities for upgrading the material and technical base of educational establishments. The document primarily deals with opening of hands-on educational and applied tuition centers on the basis of vocational training institutions. The resolution provides oblast center cities with 21.1 million UAH, which represents 42% of the total amount of allocated funds. The PULSE Project expert assisted in the preparation of a list of professions for training in such educational establishments at the expense of the National Budget in 2019. This provided an opportunity for the fair distribution of funds between oblast budgets and budgets of oblast center cities. 3. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 357 of April 24, 2019, “On Approving the Regulations for Returning Property or Compensating Its Value to Deported Persons or to Their Heirs in Case of Their Death”. The resolution introduced the monarchism to return the property or reimburse its value to certain categories of citizens at the expense of the National Budget, budget of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and local government budgets. Thanks to the work of the PULSE Project expert, the compensation will take place at the expense of the National Budget and not only at the expense of local budgets, as was originally proposed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. 4. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 482 of June 05, 2019, “On Approving the Regulation for Recalculation of the Cost of Apartment Block Management Service for the Period It Was not Provided and the Provision of Poor Quality Service”. With the endorsement of this resolution, which was prepared pursuant to the Law of Ukraine “On Housing and Municipal Utility Services” the government introduced a mechanism for apartment block management service recipients may get the refund for the failure to provide the service, or for the poor quality service. 5. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 505 of June 12, 2019, “On Introducing Amendments to the Regulation for the Use of Funds Envisioned in the National Budget for the Procurement of Automobiles with Special Equipment to Transport Persons with Disabilities and Children with Disabilities Who Have Disorders of the Musculoskeletal System”. The resolution authorised the cities with a population of up to 50 thousand to receive specially equipped cars for the transportation of persons with disabilities at the expense of the National Budget. It was the PULSE Project expert who proposed the amendments mentioned above. 6. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 522 of June 05, 2019, “On Introducing Amendments to the Regulation for Determining and Compensation of Losses of Land Owners Users and Land Users”, which provided additional instruments to local governments for collecting debts on land tax payment. This resolution was prepared exclusively by PULSE Project experts.

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7. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers # 561 of Ukraine of June 05, 2019 “On Approving the Regulations and Conditions for License Holders Engaged in Commercial Activities of Generation of Heat for Transportation of Heating Energy by Backbone and Local (Distribution) Networks and Supply of Heating Energy Whose Commercial Activities Are Licensed by Oblast State Administrations and Kyiv City State Administration to Concur with Local Governments Borrowings from Foreign Countries, Banks and International Financial Organisations for Implementation of Investment Programs”. This document defines the procedure for obtaining concurrence from local governments for borrowings taken by companies (license holders of oblast state administrations) from international financial organisations. 8. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 525 of June 19, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to Annexes to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 268 of March 09, 2006”. PULSE Project experts assisted in removing discrepancies in salaries of a number of officials and correcting certain errors. 9. Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 232-p of April 03, 2019 “On Approving the Concept for the Development of Mountainous Territories of the Ukrainian Carpathians”. A PULSE Project expert participated in the working group on the elaboration of this concept and provided his opinion on the definition of priority areas for the development of mountainous areas, prerequisites for their sustainable development, and improving the quality of life and well-being of the population in mountainous areas. 10. Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 280-р of April 24, 2019, “On Approving the Distribution of the Amount of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Infrastructure Improvements of Consolidated Communities in 2019”. Thanks to the comments of the PULSE Project expert, the government took into account the corrected number of the population and the size of the territory in the subvention for territorial communities established by cities of oblast significance (24 cities). This has ensured the fair distribution of funds of the subvention to local budgets. 11. Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 419-p of June 12, 2019, “On Approving the Concept for the Implementation of the National Policy in the Sphere of Vocational (Professional and Technical) Education» for the Period till 2027”. This directive endorsed the Concept of the implementation of national policy in the sector of vocational (professional and technical) education called: "Modern vocational (professional and technical) education" for the period up to 2027. The document provides for the reform in the system of vocational (professional and technical) education and offers a change in the mechanisms for its financial support. In particular, the directive deals with the gradual transition to financing of vocational education institutions located on the territory of cities of oblast significance from oblast budgets. The concept takes into account the similar position of the AUC Board on the transfer of funding for vocational (professional and technical) education institutions located on oblast center cities from oblast budgets. 12. Directive of the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Ukraine # 1648 of April 02, 2019 “On Endorsing Model Manning Schedules for the Number of Staff Working in Youth Centers”. The directive introduces detailed statutory models and the number of employees of youth centers. Thanks to the PULSE Project expert, these standards have been approved as a recommendation, rather than a mandatory requirement for local governments. Also, local governments received the right to introduce other positions in youth centers that are not provided for in the directive. 13. Directive of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine # 228 of May 31, 2019 “On Endorsing the Methodological Recommendations Regarding the Preparation and Approval of the Budget Regulations for the Implementation of the Budget Process at the Local Level”.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine registered 2 draft laws prepared with the participation of the PULSE Project including 1 draft law approved in the first reading: 1. Draft Law of Ukraine “On Completed Comprehensive Secondary Education” (Registration # 10204 of April 05, 2019) approved in the first reading on May 30, 2019 2. Draft Law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Regulation of Certain Issues in the Sphere of Provision of Housing and Municipal Utility Services” (Registration # 10228 of April 12, 2019)

Table 1.3. Distribution of draft regulatory and legal documents by sector

Sector Number of Number of draft

24 April – June, 2019

draft documents documents prepared since prepared in the the beginning of reporting the Project quarter Local finance 2 76 Housing and municipal utilities 3 23 Land and communally-owned property 1 14 Organisational aspects of local government activities and capacity 3 53 building for their officials Social protection 6 54 Health care 1 8 Public education 4 42 Administrative services and e-governance 0 3 Sustainable economic development and urban development 1 26 TOTAL 21 299

Table 1.4. List of prepared draft regulatory and legal documents

Registration Title of the draft law Subject matter number Draft Law of Ukraine “On The draft law provides for the continuation of Introducing Amendments to crediting 13.44 percent of excise tax on the fuel the Budget Code of Ukraine produced in Ukraine and imported to the customs (Regarding Channelling territory of Ukraine to local government budgets in Some Part of the Collections 2020. n/a from the Excise Tax on the Fuel Produced in Ukraine and Some Part of the Excise Tax on the Fuel Imported to the Customs Territory of Ukraine to Local Budgets in 2020”

Draft regulatory and legal documents, to which corrections and proposals were submitted, in the course of their approval in the manner prescribed by the Law of Ukraine "On Local Government Associations", or when expert opinions were provided: 1. Draft Law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Ukrainian Legislation Regarding Ensuring the Protection of Teachers and Research and Scientific Staff” (Registration # 10214 of April 10, 2019) 2. Draft Law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Ukrainian Legislation Regarding the Improvement of the Organisational Structure and State Oversight of Compliance with the Ukrainian Legislation in the Sphere of Protection of the Rights of Children and Social Support for Families”, which is being prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy 3. Draft Law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to the Law of Ukraine «On Education» Regarding the Payment of Monthly Salary Rises for the Prestigious Work to Pedagogical, Research and Scientific Workers” (Registration # 10100 of February 27, 2019) 4. Draft Law of Ukraine “On the Financial Support to Health Care and Mandatory National Health Care Insurance” (Registration # 9163 of October 04, 2018)

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5. Draft Law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Ukrainian Legislation Regarding Reforming the System of Institutional Care and Upbringing of Children”, which is being prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy 6. Draft Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Endorsing Model Regulations on the Day-Time Center for Social and Psychological Assistance to Persons Who Have Suffered from Domestic Violence and/or Gender Based Violence and the Specialised Service for Primary Social and Psychological Counselling of Persons Who Have Suffered from Domestic Violence and/or Gender Based Violence”, which is being prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy 7. Draft Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Endorsing the Regulations for Competence Development of Pedagogical, Scientific and Research Workers”, which is being developed by the Ministry of Education and Science 8. Draft Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Endorsing Regulations for the Provision of the Hot Water Supply Service and Model Agreements for the Provision of the Hot Water Supply Service”, which is developed by the Ministry of Regional Development 9. Draft Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Endorsing Regulations for the Calculation of the Base Salary Rate or Rate of Compensation for Uninterrupted Length of Service in the Sphere of District Heating to Employees of Basic Professions Employed in Heat Generating and Heat Distribution Companies”, which is being prepared by the Ministry of Regional Development 10. Draft Action Plan for the Implementation of the Concept for the Development of Mountainous Areas of the Ukrainian Carpathians, which is being prepared by the Ministry of Regional Development 11. Draft Directive of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine “On Approving the Mechanisms for Monitoring of the Quality of Education” 12. Draft amendments to the reporting forms endorsed by Directive of the Ministry of Regional Development of Ukraine # 326 of December 21, 2015 “On Monitoring the Status of Reforms and Development of the Sector of Housing and Municipal Utilities” 13. Draft Directive of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine “On Endorsing the National Standard for the Social Service of Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Persons Addicted with Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances” 14. Draft Directive of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to the Instruction Regarding the Mechanism for Registration and Maintenance of Personal Files of Recipients of All Kinds of Social Allowances” 15. Draft Directive of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine “On Endorsing Model Manning Schedules for the Number of Staff Working in Youth Centers”

PULSE Project experts provided the following comments and edits to the following draft legislation in the course of its preparation in various working groups set up at government authorities: 1. Draft Law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Ukrainian Legislation Regarding the Clarification of the Mechanism to Transfer Water Facilities together with Land Parcels for Lease” (Registration # 3157 of September 21, 2015) 2. Draft Law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to the Budget Code of Ukraine Regarding Increasing the Accountability of Local Authorities for Violations of the Budget Legislation”, which is being prepared the EU Strengthening of the Public Financial Systems of Local Governments Project 3. Draft Law of Ukraine "On Local Elections" (new edition) prepared by the Ministry of Regional Development 4. Project of the Law of Ukraine “On Local Self-Governance” (new edition) prepared by the Ministry of Regional Development 5. Draft Law of Ukraine "On Local State Administrations" (new edition) prepared by the Ministry of Regional Development

In addition, the Project continued the work (providing expert opinions and participating in working groups on 5 draft regulations, which started in the previous reporting periods: 1. Draft Law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine Regarding the Improvement of Administration of Local Taxes and Fees” (Registration # 10154 of March 14, 2019). 2. Draft Law of Ukraine “On Completed Comprehensive Secondary Education” (Registration # 10204 of April 05, 2019). 3. Draft Law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Regulation of Certain Issues in the Sphere of Provision of Housing and Municipal Utility Services” (Registration # 10228 of April 12, 2019).

26 April – June, 2019

4. Draft regulatory and legal documents (action plan aimed at preventing and countering a bullying in educational establishments, mechanism to respond to bullying, mechanisms to apply the means of educational influence). 5. Draft changes to the formula for distribution of the education subvention to local budgets. 6. Draft National Strategy for the Formation of a Healthy Lifestyle for Children and Youth for the period up to 2025.

1.1.3. Legislation monitoring

During the reporting period, the Association of Ukrainian Cities received 29 draft regulatory and legal documents submitted by central agencies of the state executive for concurrence including: Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine 1 National Service for Labour of Ukraine 1 National Service for Emergencies of Ukraine 1 Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine 1 Ministry of Youth and Sport of Ukraine 4 Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Municipal Utilities of Ukraine 8 Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine 9 Ministry for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine 1 Ministry of Finance of Ukraine 2 State Agency for Electronic Governance of Ukraine 1

14 of these draft regulatory and legal documents were concurred with without reservations, 14 were concurred with reservations, and 1 - not concurred with.

PULSE Project experts prepared and submitted 27 expert opinions to the draft legislation under consideration in Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committees and central agencies of the state executive including: x positive opinions - 12; x expert opinions with comments and proposals - 12 including 6 negative expert opinions with a suggestion to reject the draft regulatory and legal document.

The expert opinions were submitted to: Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations 1 Verkhovna Rada Budget Committee 2 Verkhovna Rada Committee on Construction, Urban Development, Housing and Municipal Utilities 1 Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine 2 Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Municipal Utilities of Ukraine 1 Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine 2 Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine 2 Verkhovna Rada Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self- Governance 3 Verkhovna Rada Committee on Science and Education 4 Verkhovna Rada Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety 1 Verkhovna Rada Committee on Taxation and Customs Policy 5 Verkhovna Rada Committee on Industrial Policy and Entrepreneurship 1 Verkhovna Rada Committee on Family, Youth Policy, Sport and Tourism 1 Verkhovna Rada Committee on Health Care 1

1.1.4. Resolving local government problem issues and promotion of sectoral reforms

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Reform of the New Ukrainian School During the reporting period, reforms in the education sector focused on ensuring access to education for persons with special educational needs. The government endorsed National Building Regulations B.2.2.-40: 2018 “Buildings and Edifices. Inclusiveness of Buildings and Premises. Main Provisions”. Inclusiveness of buildings and structures. Substantive provisions". The new regulations not only strengthens the requirement for barrier-free access, but also provides all the technical features and specific illustrative examples of such implementation taking into account the available international experience. In particular, with regard to the design of ramps, special lifts and other means of accessibility for people with musculoskeletal disorders; tactile and visual accessibility elements: tactile floor tiles, information charts with Braille script, audio pointers for people with visual impairments; other visual information, duplication of important sound information with texts, provision of oral transcription, use of sound amplification systems for people with hearing impairments and other important changes. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Resolution # 530 of April 10, 2019 "On Approving the Mechanism for Organisation of Activities of Inclusive Groups in Pre-School Educational Establishments". The document deals with the number of children in inclusive groups, peculiarities of the provision of psychological, pedagogical and correctional development services, as well as a list of documents for the enrolment of children with special educational needs to inclusive groups. The approval of this document will provide opportunities to ensure equal conditions for children with different needs in pre-school establishments in accordance with the current legislation. Aiming at meeting special educational needs of talented children, the CMU endorsed Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 438 of May 22, 2019 “On Endorsing Regulations on the Scientific Lyceum and the Scientific Boarding School” to provide the necessary conditions for their training and development. The resolution outlines the principles for setting up scientific lyceums and scientific lyceums and boarding schools (regardless of the type of ownership and subordination). In the 2nd quarter of 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers also changed the regulations on the school district and the hub school. On June 19, 2019, the CMU endorsed the relevant resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. According to the new regulation, the number of pupils in hub schools should be at least 200. In other words, the entrepreneurs pooling resources from several local budgets and the National Budget should provide the highest quality education to as many children as possible. The school district may include, inter alia, inclusive resource centers and inter-school resource centers. To delineate the powers of the founders of educational establishments that will function within the district, local councils must conclude an agreement on joint activities. The agreement will include persons in charge of organising the educational process, transportation to hub schools, provision of educational equipment, etc. The arrangement of the hub school should take place in accordance with the principles of the New Educational Space.

Reform of vocational (professional and technical) education In the reporting period, the Cabinet of Ministers conceptually changed the approaches to the management of vocational (professional and technical) educational establishments. For example, government endorsed Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine 419-р of June 12, 2019 “On Approving the Concept for the Implementation of the National Policy in the Sphere of Vocational (Professional and Technical) Education” for the Period until 2027". The document envisages reforms in the system vocational (professional and technical) education. In particular, the document provides for a change in the mechanisms for its financing and phased transition to funding of vocational education institutions located in the cities of oblast significance from oblast budgets. This is in line with the position of the AUC, since the Cabinet of Ministers has failed to ensure the transfer of property these educational institutions to communal ownership of oblast center cities. The CMU endorsed Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 214-p of April 03, 2019 “On Approving the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Concept for Training Specialists According to the Dual Form for Education” to improve the quality of training of blue-collar workers. The document offers a suggestion to approve the action plan for the implementation of the Concept of training specialists according to the dual form of education and deals with the cooperation of vocational training institutions with employers, strengthening of the role of on-the-job training, as well as the development of model contracts.

Funding of education In the reporting period, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine continued supporting reforms in the education sector with resources. For example, Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 319 of April 03, 2019 “On certain Issues of the Provision of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for the Implementation of Activities Aimed at Increasing the Quality of Education” provides for a targeted subvention from the National Budget to local budgets for the procurement of computer equipment in the

28 April – June, 2019

amount of 300 million UAH, school buses - 325 million UAH, Internet connection - 700 million UAH, and procurement of special vehicles for Inclusive Resource Centers - 175 million UAH. All in all, the National Budget spent 1.5 billion UAH for these purposes. The funds will be provided to oblast budgets and distributed by oblast state administrations decisions between rayon budgets, budgets of cities of oblast significance and CTC budgets. However, this decision, in its turn, indicates an increase in local government dependence on the decisions of the oblast level authorities. At the same time, during the discussion of Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 302 of April 10, 2019 “On Certain Issues of Using the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Upgrading and Modernisation of Material and technical Base of Vocational Training Institutions in 2019”, the PULSE Project expert managed to defend the necessity of having inter-budget transfers from the National Budget to budgets of oblast center cities for upgrading the material and technical base of vocational (professional and technical) educational institutions. This provided opportunities for a more equitable mechanism of distributing of the transfer in the amount of 50 million UAH, as 42% of these funds are to be received by cities. In the second quarter of 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers also provided resources for comprehensive secondary educational establishments to upgrade their sport facilities. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 376 of April 17, 2019 “On Certain Issues of the Provision of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Opening and Repairs of the Existing Sport Facilities at Comprehensive Educational Establishments of All Grades” offers local governments to enter co-financing agreements for the construction of new gem, reconstruction and capital repair of the existing ones, repairs of premises for physical education and sport lessons, swimming pools, stadiums, shooting ranges, sports fields and playgrounds and other open air structures and facilities. At present, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has collected the relevant proposals from local governments and is preparing documents for consideration by the selection commission.

Activity 1.2. Local governments and all interested parties are actively engaged and use participatory tool to work on legislation and advocating for its approval

1.2.1. Support for approval of drafted legislation in the parliament: tools for interaction with the VRU

During the reporting period, the PULSE Project utilised the tool to interact with the parliament including supporting the work of the Inter-Faction Local Government Support Group (local government caucus), participation in the work of parliamentary committees, preparation of expert opinions on draft laws, and conducting Regional Policy Dialogue Platforms.

Local government caucus and cooperation with parliamentary factions In April, 2019, the NEURC initiated the restriction of local government powers in setting tariffs for heat and hot water supply services. The AUC sent an appeal to all parliamentary factions and groups in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as well as to the Local Government Support Parliamentary Group of MPs (local government caucus) to prevent the limitation of local government powers in setting tariffs for heat and hot water supply services. At present, the decision limiting the local government powers has not been taken.

The AUC sent a letter to all parliamentary factions and groups in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as well as to local government caucus with a proposal to support the draft law “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Regulation of Certain Issues in the Sphere of Provision of Housing and Municipal Utility Services” (Registration # 10228 of April 12, 2019), which would resolve problem issues related to the enactment of the Law of Ukraine “On Housing and Municipal Utility Services”. The draft law was prepared with the participation of PULSE Project experts.

The AUC appealed to all parliamentary factions and groups in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with a request to support the approval of draft laws “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding the Regulation of Activities of Companies Working in the Spheres of Heat Supply, Centralised Water Supply and Sewerage” (Registration # 9424 of December 19, 2018) and “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Regulation of Certain Issues in the Sphere of Provision of Housing and Municipal Utility Services” (Registration # 10228 of April 12, 2019).

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Participation in the work of parliamentary committees During the reporting period of Project implementation, PULSE Project experts participated in 24 meetings of 10 parliamentary committees:

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Health Care – 6; Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self- Governance – 3; Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Science and Education - 1; Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations – 1; Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Budget Committee – 7; Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Tax and Customs Policy - 1; Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Construction, Urban Development, Housing and Municipal Utilities – 1; Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Family Issues, Youth Policy, Sport and Tourism - 1; Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Social Policy, Employment and Pensions - 2; and, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Transportation - 1

During the reporting period, thanks to the participation of PULSE Project experts, it was possible to achieve the following main results in cooperation with committees, namely:

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Budget Committee On April 24, the Committee together with a PULSE Project expert considered the Cabinet of Ministers Draft Law # 9086 “On the Main Foundations of Activities of National Fiscal Control Entities”. The draft law envisaged excessive increase in central government financial control of local government activities. Its provisions envisioned high corruption risks due to the lack of clear and transparent criteria for evaluating performance of local governments. The AUC provided its negative opinion to the Committee. Following the consideration of the draft law, the Committee took into account the position of the AUC and decided to return the draft law to its authors for revision. On May 15, the Committee together with a PULSE Project Expert PULSE considered the Cabinet of Ministers about the distribution of funds of the subvention for infrastructure improvements in CTCs between local budgets (CMU Resolution # 280-р of April 24, 2019). The PULSE Project expert argued for the necessity of providing 37.0 million UAH of the subvention funds to territorial communities of the cities of oblast significance (24 cities) that have merged with the neighbouring communities. Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations On April 10, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations conducted a round table discussion of Draft Law # 3157 “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Ukrainian Legislation Regarding the Clarification of the Mechanism to Transfer Water Facilities together with Land Parcels for Lease”. In the course of the round table, a PULSE Project expert mentioned the problems local governments face in transferring lands from the water fund. Following the meeting, the Committee included the proposals of the Association of Ukrainian Cities into the draft law. Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Science and Education On April 09, 2019, the Committee made a decision to give a recommendation to the Verkhovna Rada to approve the draft Law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Ukrainian Legislation Regarding the restoration of Justice in Issues Related to Remuneration of Pedagogical Workers of Pre-School and Out- of-School Establishments” (Registration # 8188 of March 23, 2018) in the first reading. The draft law offers a suggestion to increase salaries of teachers and scientific and research workers of pre-school and out-of- school educational institutions. The PULSE Project analyst supported the approval of this draft law with a suggestion to reimburse local governments the funds necessary to ensure such salary increase from the National Budget. On April 24, 2019, the Committee came up with a recommendation to approve the draft Law “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Ukrainian Legislation Regarding Ensuring the Protection of Teachers and Research and Scientific Workers” (Registration # 10214 of April 10, 2019). The draft law offers a suggestion to provide additional guarantees to pedagogical, scientific and research workers regarding personal respect, honour and dignity, fair and respectful attitude towards them from participants of the educational process and other persons; and to introduce administrative accountability or the committing threats, defamation, persecution, or physical violence against such persons. The document offers a

30 April – June, 2019

suggestion to introduce administrative accountability for drinking alcoholic beverages, low alcohol drinks, or taking narcotic and psychotropic substances or their analogues in educational institutions. The PULSE Project expert joined the discussion of the draft aw and presented her proposals on the rates of fines and penalties. The Committee decided to recommend to approve the draft law in the first reading and to prepare it for the second reading taking into account the comments made at the meeting. Also on April 24, 2019, the Committee discussed the information about the outcomes parliamentary hearings and approved the draft Recommendations “On the Current Status of the Preparation of Recommendations of Parliamentary Hearings under the Title: “Balanced development of Human capital in Ukraine: Tasks of Education and Science” conducted on April 10, 2019”. The recommendations also have suggestions from the PULSE Project expert with regard to amendments to the legislation on meals for children of educational institutions, equitable distribution of the education subvention and additional funding for education, as well as adequate resources for local budgets. On May 15, 2019, the Committee discussed the draft Law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to the Law of Ukraine «On Education» Regarding the Payment of Monthly Salary Rises to Pedagogical, Research and Scientific Workers for the Prestigious Pedagogical Work” (Registration # 10100 of February 27, 2019). The draft document offers a suggestion to amend Article 57 of the Law of Ukraine "On Education" to introduce a salary increase for the image of pedagogical work in the amount of 30 per cent of the official salary for pedagogical and scientific and research workers of pre-school, out-of-school, comprehensive secondary, vocational (professional and technical) and higher education, other institutions and establishments, regardless of their subordination. While supporting idea of increasing salaries of teachers, the PULSE Project expert noted that the implementation of this provision will lead to a significant increase in expenditures from the National Budget and local budgets. In particular, the government will need to increase the amount of the education subvention whose funds, in the opinion of the AUC, are not enough to pay salaries to teachers of comprehensive educational establishments in 2019. According to the calculations of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, to implement this draft law the National Budget will have to disburse additional 12 billion UAH. The draft law, in its turn, does not have the financial and economic justification and does not specify what revenue sources will cover such expenditures. The National Deputies who are members of the Committee, such as Taras Kremin and Oleksiy Skrypnyk spoke in support of the AUC position. The Committee made a decision to give a recommendation to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to approve the draft Law of Ukraine in the first reading and to take into account the proposals expressed during the discussion while elaborating it for the second reading. On May 15, 2019, the Committee approved the composition of the working group for the elaboration of the draft Law of Ukraine “On Completed Comprehensive Secondary Education” (Registration # 10204 of April 05, 2019), which included official representatives of central executive authorities, representatives of scientific institutions, public organisations, experts, experienced teachers, as well as a PULSE Project expert. On May 29, 2019, the Committee approved the draft of the Law of Ukraine “On Completed Comprehensive Secondary Education” (Registration # 10204 of April 05, 2019) prepared with the participation of a PULSE Project expert. The purpose of the draft law is to ensure the reform of the system of general secondary education, which started after the approval of the Law of Ukraine "On Education". The draft document streamlines the issues of equal access for children to completed comprehensive secondary education, in particular: accessibility for people with special educational needs, as well as territorial accessibility of comprehensive secondary educational establishments, obligation of government authorities to ensure the appropriate accessibility; ensuring high quality of completed comprehensive secondary education; ensuring academic integrity in the sphere of comprehensive secondary education; language of tuition in comprehensive secondary educational establishments; certification of teachers; resource support for educational establishments (information, scientific, methodical, material and technical resources); principles of institutional audit; self-governance of educational establishments by students and parents; rights and responsibilities of participants of the educational process; separation of powers of state executive authorities and local governments in the sphere of comprehensive secondary education, etc. On May 30, 2019, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the draft Law of Ukraine “On Completed Comprehensive Secondary Education” (Registration # 10204 of April 05, 2019) in the first reading. At the end of the reporting period, the PULSE Project expert participated in the working group to prepare the draft law for the second reading and introduced the provisions of local government importance into the text of the document. Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Construction, Urban Development, Housing and Municipal Utilities

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A PULSE Project expert actively participated in the workshops organised by the Committee on April 02, 2019 and April 08, 2019 where Committee members elaborated the draft law on amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Housing and Municipal Utility Services”. Following these meetings, the Committee approved the final version of the draft law “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Regulation of Certain Issues in the Sphere of Provision of Housing and Municipal Utility Services”, which was registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on April 12, 2019 under Registration # 10228 by a group of National Deputies who are members of the Committee. On April 23, 2019, the Committee made a decision to support the draft law and gave a recommendation for the parliament to approve it in the first reading as law. Committee Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Governance The position of representatives of the PULSE Project has become an important factor in the course of the discussion and approval of the Cabinet of Ministers draft law “On the Administrative Procedure” (Registration # 9456). The draft law offers a suggestion to regulate administrative procedures in managerial relations of local governments and their officials and employees with regard to making and enforcing individual decisions. Currently, there are many pieces f legislation regulating various administrative procedures. The purpose of the draft law is to regulate the general provisions for all such procedures. Representatives of the PULSE project agree with the expediency of such legislative regulation, as well as with many provisions of the draft law. At the same time, project experts repeatedly offer constructive criticism of the draft law. Most of the comments are aimed at technical refinement of the bill draft law to remove excessive complexity of text and lack of systematic approach in resolving problems. The committee supported the position of the PULSE Project representatives. During the reporting period, the Committee organised and conducted a round table discussion of the draft law on May 13, 2019 and the Committee meeting on June 05, 2019. The PULSE Project representative participated at these events and presented the position of he Project. Working sessions of Regional Policy Dialogue Platforms A regional policy dialogue platform is a joint meeting of mayors of AUC Regional Office member municipalities, oblast leadership, and National Deputies who were elected from the given region, which are conducted with the purpose of supporting the approval in the parliament of the legislation including the draft laws prepared by AUC experts aimed at resolving local government problem issues in selected regions. The Project conducts two meetings of regional policy dialogue platforms every year.

During the reporting period, the Project conducted 2 working sessions of regional policy dialogue platforms in 3 oblasts, namely: Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, , Poltava, and Kherson. Six National Deputies of Ukraine participated in these meetings. Table 1.5. Information about meetings of regional platforms

Date, venue, topic, and participants of Brief description of the event the event Meeting of the Poltava Regional The participants discussed problem issues of application of the Policy Dialogue Platform, legislation, the need for new legislation in the sector, and April 03, 2019, city legislative gaps. Following the discussion, the participants approved the text of Topic: Problem issues with the an appeal to the National Deputy of Ukraine who was at the application of the land legislation and meeting with a request to support the approval of the following necessity of new legislation. draft laws in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: - “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Ukrainian Participants: village, town and city Legislation Regarding the Management of Land Resources mayors, CTC mayors, representatives within the Boundaries of Territories of Consolidated Territorial of the Oblast State Administration and Communities” (Registration # 7118); Oblast Council, PULSE Project - “On the Principles of the Administrative and Territorial regional consultants, and National Arrangement of Ukraine” (Registration # 8051); Deputy of Ukraine O. Kulynych. - “On Introducing Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Regulation of Urban Development Activities”” (Registration # 6403); - “On Introducing Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine Regarding the Rates of Certain Taxes” (Registration # 9085);

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Date, venue, topic, and participants of Brief description of the event the event and, - "On State Assistance to Business Entities" (Registration # 1555). In addition to this, the event participants sent an appeal to the AUC Executive Board with a request to facilitate the endorsement of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine draft Resolution “On Application of the Mechanisms for Taking Inventory of Lands’ (as introduced by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 710 of July 18, 2018) regarding changes to the procedure for maintaining the State Land Cadastre. Meeting of the Lviv Regional Policy In the course of the meeting, the participants discussed a number Dialogue Platform, of important laws for the development of local self-governance May 03, 2019, city of Lviv and decided to appeal to the National Deputies who were present at the meeting with a request to support in the parliament the Topic: Ukrainian legislation on the following: development of local self-governance - accelerate the approval of the draft Law of Ukraine "On in Ukraine. Metropolitan Areas" (Registration # 2679-VIII of February 07, 2019); Participants: village, town and city - approval of the draft Law of Ukraine "On Social Services" in mayors, CTC mayors, representatives the first reading (Registration # 2761-VIII of January 17, 2019); of the Oblast State Administration and - amend the Law of Ukraine "On Local Elections" with regard Oblast Council, PULSE Project to the mandatory election of mayors and local council member regional consultants, and National of populated areas with the number of inhabitants under 50,000 Deputies of Ukraine L. Zubach and O. according to the majoritarian system; Berezyuk. - amend the Law “On Service in Local Governments” with regard to the pension support for certain categories of local government officials (secretary of the council, chairman) who have at least 10 years of work experience on an elected position; and, - prevent the abolition of the excise tax on retail sales of tobacco products (these collections go to local budgets) (draft Law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine Regarding the Improvement of Administration of Local Taxes and Fees”, Registration # 10154-1 of March 20, 2019). Meeting of the Kherson Regional The event participants discussed issues related to improvements Policy Dialogue Platform, of the current legislation of Ukraine on organizational aspects of May 23, 2019, city of Kherson local government activities and prepared an appeal to the National Deputy who was present at the meeting with a request Topic: Local self-governance to support the following in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: legislative issues in 2019. - introduce a compensatory mechanism to minimise the impact of the introduction of the national normative Participants: village, town and city monetary valuation of lands (as of January 01, 2019), mayors, CTC mayors, representatives because the relevant local budget losses significantly of the Oblast State Administration, affect the social and economic development of rural PULSE Project regional consultants, territories; and National Deputy of Ukraine O. - aiming at preventing unjustified reduction of local Spivakovskyi. budget revenues, reject the draft law “On Introducing Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine Regarding the Improvement of Administration of Local Taxes and Fees” (Registration # 10154-1 of March 20, 2019) in the part dealing with the abolishment of the excise tax on retail sales of tobacco products; - make changes to the formula for the calculation of the education subvention taking into account academic hours of individual training, expenditures for

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Date, venue, topic, and participants of Brief description of the event the event substituting teachers who are temporarily absent, actual number of schoolchildren, the actual remuneration needs, projected number of schoolchildren in classes in schools for city-type CTCs embracing rural populated areas, as well as to regulate and determine the criteria for the distribution of the additional subsidy between local budgets to cover the expenditure categories associated with the maintenance of educational and health care establishments transferred from the state budget to local budgets; - introduce systemic and formula based distribution of the subvention from the National Budget to local budgets for construction, reconstruction, repairs and maintenance of municipal streets and roads in populated areas at the level of 20% of the amount of the subvention channelling the subvention funds directly to budgets of cities of oblast significance and CTCs; and, - introduce amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Government Procurement” (Article 2) with regard to increasing the threshold for the application of the law for purchasing entities up to 3.0 million hryvnyas. Meeting of the Dnipropetrovsk The event participants discussed the legislative mechanisms for Regional Policy Dialogue Platform, improving the efficiency of the management of land resources in May 24, 2019, city of Dnipro the communities. Following the discussion, the participants prepared an appeal to Topic: Legislative mechanisms for the National Deputy who was present at the event with a request improving the efficiency of land to lobby and promote the approval of the following draft laws of resources management in territorial Ukraine in the parliament: communities. Problem issues in the - “On Introducing Amendments to the Land Code of Ukraine sphere of land relations. and Certain Other Legislation Regarding Fighting Illegal Property Seizure” (Registration # 8121); Participants: village, town and city - “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Ukrainian mayors, CTC mayors, representatives Legislation Regarding the Deregulation of Land Management of the Oblast State Administration, and Valuation of Lands” (Registration # 10187). PULSE Project regional consultants, Also, the event participants expressed their support for the and National Deputy of Ukraine O. approval of the following laws of Ukraine in the first reading: Dubinin. - "On Topographic, Geodesic and Cartographic Activities" (Registration # 10229); - “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Ukrainian Legislation Regarding the Clarification of the Mechanisms for Transferring Water Facilities together with Land Parcels for Lease” (Registration # 3157). Meeting of the Donetsk Regional The event participants discussed the peculiarities of application Policy Dialogue Platform, of the land legislation in the context of local government May 31, 2019, city of Kramatorsk activities. Following the discussion, the participants prepared proposals Topic: Peculiarities of the application with regard to the approval of the following documents: of land legislation in the sector of local - draft law of Ukraine "On Introducing Amendments to Certain governments. Ukrainian Legislation Regarding Resolving Issues of Collective Land Ownership, Improvements of the Rules to Use Lands in Participants: village, town and city Agricultural Land Areas, Preventing Illegal Property Seizure and mayors, CTC mayors, representatives Stimulating Irrigation in Ukraine” (Registration # 2498); of the State Agency for Land Cadastre, - draft law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to the Tax PULSE Project regional consultants, Code of Ukraine and Certain Other Ukrainian Legislation and National Deputy of Ukraine S. Regarding Improvements of Administration and Revisiting of Sazhko. Rates of Certain Taxes and Fees” (Registration # 2628);

34 April – June, 2019

Date, venue, topic, and participants of Brief description of the event the event - draft law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Ukrainian Legislation Regarding the Clarification of the Mechanisms for Transferring Water Facilities together with Land Parcels for Lease” (Registration # 3157); and, - draft law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Ukrainian Legislation Regarding the Deregulation of Land Management and Valuation of Lands” (Registration # 10187). Also, on a separate note, the mayors appealed to the National Deputy of Ukraine who was present at the event with a request to assist in the abolition of Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 14-р of January 16, 2019 “On Endorsing the Distribution of the Additional Subsidy to Cover the Expenditure Categories Transferred from the National Budget of Maintaining Educational and Health Care Establishments between Local Budgets in 2019”, which contributes to the biased distribution of this subsidy in favour of oblast budgets.

1.2.2. Support to approval of resolutions and directives of the Cabinet of Ministers: tools to interact with the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine

During the reporting quarter, the PULSE Project continued to use various tools to interact with the Cabinet of Ministers. They included: the Dialogue Day, participation in meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers and Cabinet of Ministers Committees, sectoral forums, cooperation with line ministries, and drafting of expert conclusions and drafts regulatory and legal documents.

Interaction with the Cabinet of Ministers

Dialogue Day with Cabinet of Ministers / Central Government The Dialogue Day is a traditional event for community leaders and central government representatives to discuss local government issues and prepare a common position on how to resolve community issues. This event was launched within the framework of the USAID DIALOGUE project and continued in the USAID PULSE Project. This year's Dialogue Day took place on June 18 within the framework of the 15th Ukrainian Municipal Forum, which was took place in Odesa on June 18 - 20 June, 2019. 380 representatives of AUC member communities, as well as National Deputies, representatives of state authorities and international organisations participated in the Dialogue Day. The honourable guests included: Prime Minister of Ukraine V. Groisman and Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe A. Kifer.

DIALOGUE WITH THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT Chairman of the AUC and Kyiv Mayor V. Klychko said in his introductory report: the AUC has been and remains an apolitical organisation that protects the interests of local governments. The association is ready to cooperate with the new parliament, because its main task is to represent and protect the interests of all our communities ranging from both big cities and smallest villages. The AUC Chairman emphasised the problem issues local governments currently face:  abolishment of collections to local budget from the excise tax starting as of 2020 implying the losses of local budgets in the amount up to 9 billion UAH;  cover the expenditure categories transferred from the National Budget for maintenance of educational and health care establishments;  underfunded pre-school and cultural institutions in villages, settlements, and cities of rayon significance by rayon authorities (contrary to the requirements of the Budget Code, having 60% of collections from the personal income tax, rayon authorities shift such expenditure categories to smaller communities);

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 biased distribution of oblast state administrations of the road subvention (the AUC insists on the introduction of the following formula based distribution: at least 20% of this subvention should go directly to communities); and,  payment of taxes by enterprises to budgets other than the budgets of communities where they actually conduct their business (significant under-collected funds in local budgets, especially in smaller cities). In the course of the preparations for the Dialogue Day, the AUC submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers and line ministries more than 160 problem issues and proposals for their solutions from communities.

Prime Minister of Ukraine V. Groisman in his presentation stated that on June 19, the Cabinet of Ministers will conduct a meeting dedicated exclusively to issues of decentralisation and identified several priority tasks:  approving draft amendments to the Constitution that will make decentralisation reforms irreversible. In particular, the document will offer a suggestion to specify in the constitution the ubiquity of local self-governance and financial self-sufficiency of communities; introduce executive committees of oblast and rayon councils instead of state administrations; and transfer all lands under the jurisdiction of local governments;  separate emphasis will be focused on smaller towns: all cities of rayon significance will receive the status of consolidated territorial communities (CTCs) to have the funds coming to smaller towns without the intervention of oblast and rayon officials;  redistribution of 10 billion UAH of the road subvention to local budgets; and,  elimination of duplication of functions between local self-governance and state administrations, respectively: the 50% reduction of employees of rayon and oblast administrations.

Following his presentation, the Prime Minister talked directly to the forum participants and responded to their questions, with most of them dealing with key current problem issues of specific communities. The work of the Dialogue Day continued in two consecutive panel discussions, which were moderated by Executive Director of the AUC O. Slobozhan.

Panel Discussion I. Local government reform: community expectations Chairman of the Kyiv AUC Regional Office and Bucha City Mayor A. Fedoruk noted that 2018 was the halt year when for the preparation of the legislative framework for the local government reform, and in 2019 this tendency continued. For example, the parliament failed to approve amendments to the Constitution in the sphere of decentralisation, nor did it approve a number of important draft laws, such as on service in local governments, on the administrative and territorial arrangement and others. The Law on consolidation of communities around cities of oblast significance was successful and more than 30 cities took the advantage of these opportunities.

Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Municipal Utilities of Ukraine V. Nehoda noted that it is necessary to set up a network of capable communities prior to the upcoming local elections and to do everything possible to make the reform irreversible.

Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe A. Kiefer emphasised the need to approve amendments to the Constitution with regard to decentralisation to ensure the continuation of the reform and confirmed the continuous support for the local government reform in Ukraine from the Congress.

Chairman of the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine V. Patskan noted that the Accounting Chamber analyses the budget process on a monthly basis and identifies problems that prevent communities from effectively using National Budget funds. He noted that the communities depend to a great extend on the National Budget, but they should be given more opportunities to autonomously and independently decide on what to spend their budget funds on. Also, it is important to introduce e-budgeting, which will promote more efficient use of funds and help reduce corruption.

National Deputy of Ukraine and the representative of the AUC Chairman in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine O. Prodan noted that the AUC should also raise such issues of local government importance as the municipal guard and transfer of lands to local governments. She also emphasised the importance of supporting small businesses, which pay taxes to community budgets and provide employment opportunities to community residents.

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Panel Discussion II. Local government reform: sectoral reforms Hennadiy Zubko, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Municipal Utilities of Ukraine who was in Germany for a government visit connected to Forum participants through Skype. In particular, he stated that the main task is to finalise the preparation of formation of long- term prospective plans for each oblast and their implementation, so that the local elections in 2020 take place on a new territorial basis.

Chairman of the AUC Committee for Budget Policy, Ternopil City Mayor S. Nadal emphasised that communities feel that the government tries to reduce their resources and provided several specific examples: the Tax Code grants privileges on the payment of the land tax for the railway company; abolition of the excise tax on fuel starting as of 2020; reduction of the amount of the additional subsidy for the sectors of education and health care; prohibition to place temporarily local government unused funds on bank deposit accounts; exemption from the payment off cost share contributions of a number of agricultural and food companies. The success of the reform requires “clear rules” of the game, as well as the responsibility of both community leaders and government officials.

First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine P. Khobzei noted that it is the local governments that are implementing the education reform. The funds that the central government transfers to the local level should be spent on resolving issue of inclusion, modernisation of education, and promotion of the new educational environment. Ensuring high quality education for every child is a common task of all levels of government.

Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine P. Kovtonyuk touched upon the role of local governments in the implementation of the health care reform. It is the local governments that have to promote the conditions for obtaining affordable and high quality health care services for their inhabitants. Since communities are becoming the founders of municipal companies, i.e. health care establishments, they should develop them. One has to finalise the implementation of the money follows the patient principle and introduce IT technologies in health care establishments.

Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine Yu. Dzhyhyr spoke about the necessity of changing the methods of funding both in the sector of public education and health care and to direct the financial resources to for competence development of staff in these sectors, as well as about the increase of capital expenditures of the National Budget on infrastructure improvements.

Director General of the Family and Social Support Department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine Vitaliy Muzychenko noted that the Ministry has considered the problem issues raised by the AUC, and the overwhelming majority of them deal with granting subsidies, activities of transparent offices, and social assistance to low income families. Ne can find solutions to these issues only within the framework of effective cooperation between the state and local authorities.

O. Krasnolutskyi, Deputy Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, reminded that in 2018, 648 CTCs received 1.5 million hectares of state-owned agricultural lands to their communal ownership and this year this process will continue. Land is an important resource for communities and today it is necessary to learn how to use it in an effective manner.

Based on the discussion at the Dialogue Day, the participants approved the text of the Appeal of the top government leadership, which outline the following: draft legislation to be approved to facilitate the continuation of the decentralisation reform; problem issues with the community budget sufficiency and equitable distribution of subventions to local budgets; and issues related to the work of municipal heating companies.

DAY OF THE CONFERENCE OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE This event took place within the framework of the Council of Europe Strengthening Democracy and Confidence at the Local Level in Ukraine.

In the course of this event, discussions were held on public ethics, open governance and equality of rights and opportunities. The discussions were attended by community leaders, representatives of the central

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government and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, and European and Ukrainian experts.

Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe A. Kiefer, speaking during the final session of the Congress Day, emphasised that the Association of Ukrainian Cities is a powerful organisation that safeguards the interests of communities and assists them in having an effective dialogue with the central government authorities. The AUC promotes the development of democracy in Ukraine based on the principles of openness, equality and ethics, thereby developing a European model local self-governance.

DAY OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF UKRAINIAN CITIES This event was took place within the framework of the Partnership for Local Economic Development and Democratic Governance Project (PLEDDG), which is being implemented by the AUC in cooperation with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

The key focus of this day was on tools and opportunities for economic development of Ukrainian communities, in particular, on tools for strengthening their investment potential. The participants discussed both international and Ukrainian experience. A separate discussion was dedicated to issues of gender equality. The framework of the discussion included the announcement of the results of the Gender Initiative Contest announced annually by the AUC together with the PLEDDG Project. The implementation of these projects will promote the participation of women in local economic development of communities. Central and local mass media extensively covered the work of the 15th Ukrainian Municipal Forum was actively covered in the central and local mass media. During the period of June 18 - 21, about 70 publications came out in print and on-line media and 12 video stories on TV.

Participation in meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers and its Committees In the reporting quarter, the Association of Ukrainian Cities actively engaged in cooperation with the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. In particular, being a representative of territorial communities, the AUC safeguarded their interests at the national level. In the course of meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers and its Committees, AUC Executive Director O. Slobozhan served as the official representative of the AUC. PULSE Project experts provided constant monitoring of draft government regulations that were considered at the meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers Committees and the Cabinet of Ministers itself. They provided comments, suggestions and conclusions to draft laws, regulations, directives, national level programs and other documents of the Cabinet of Ministers related to local governments. In addition to this, in April, 2019 Representative of the AUC/PULSE O. Slobozhan participated in the initial meeting of the newly established Cabinet of Ministers Strategic Government. However, for unknown reasons, representatives of Ukraine-wide local government associations were not involved in the subsequent meetings of the Strategic Committee. All in all, during the reporting quarter PULSE Project representatives: - participated in 11 Cabinet of Ministers meetings and 22 meetings of Cabinet of Ministers Committees, in particular: on economic policy issues - 10; social and humanitarian policy issues - 7; and, regional development issues - 4 (see Table 1); - monitored 903 regulatory and legal documents and provided comments on 312 draft Cabinet of Ministers regulations with regard to their impact local self-governance (see Table 1.7). The monitoring included 59 Cabinet of Ministers draft legislation, 29 draft directives and decrees of the President of Ukraine, 440 draft resolutions and 268 draft directives of the CMU, 60 implementation plans f of legislative acts, and 47 conclusions to other draft legislation (see Table 1.6).

Table 1.6. Participation in the meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers and its Committees (April – June, 2019) Month Cabinet of Ministers Committee on Cabinet of Meetings, economic social policy regional total Ministers total: policy development April 3 2 2 8 4 12 May 4 2 1 7 3 10 June 3 3 1 7 4 11 Total: 10 7 4 22 11 33

Table 1.7.

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PULSE monitoring of draft regulatory and legal documents of the Cabinet of Ministers (April – June, 2019) Month Laws Decrees or Resolution Cabinet of Implementat Conclusions to Total: Instructions of the s of the Ministers ion plans for draft legislation President Cabinet of Directives laws, Ministers decrees, etc. of Ukraine April 23 7 137 74 11 4 256 May 21 17 152 92 27 23 332 June 15 5 151 102 22 20 315 Total: 59 29 440 268 60 47 903

The 903 regulatory and legal documents the Cabinet of Ministers and its Committees considered during the reporting quarter included 34.6%, or 312 documents, which dealt with local government issues including 89.4%, or 279 regulatory and legal documents supported by PULSE Project experts and 10.6%, or 33 regulatory and legal documents they did not support (see Table 1.8).

Table 1.8. PULSE Project expert support for drafting Cabinet of Ministers regulations (April – June, 2019) Month Cabinet of Ministers regulations Draft Cabinet of Ministers regulations on local PULSE Project worked on government issues Total Including those on Supported by PULSE Not supported by PULSE local government experts experts issues April 256 88 83 5 May 332 115 101 14 June 315 109 95 14 Total: 903 312 279 33

This fruitful cooperation in the reporting quarter resulted of the Cabinet of Ministers endorsement of 40 important legal and regulatory documents that fostered decentralisation, enhanced the capacity of communities, and strengthened the financial foundations of local governments. In particular, the most important Cabinet of Ministers regulations endorsed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which were prepared by PULSE Project experts include: Cabinet of Ministers draft laws of Ukraine: 1. Draft Law “On Topographic and Geodesic and Cartographic Activities” (of April 12, 2019, Registration # 10229), which provides for setting up the geospatial data base of Ukraine to provide local governments with the information for urban planning documentation and spatial planning of territories. The draft law is under consideration in the technical VRU committee. 2. Draft Law “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding the Protection of the Rights of Territorial Communities in the Process of Voluntary Consolidation of Territorial Communities and Annexation to the Consolidated Territorial Community” (of April 23, 2019, Registration # 10240), which strengthens the protection of rights of territorial communities in the process voluntary community consolidation or annexation accession by regulating appeals on community consolidation (annexation), as well as by including appeals on such decisions to the category of urgent administrative cases. The draft law is under consideration in the technical VRU committee. 3. Draft Law “On Waste Management” (of July 02, 2019, Registration # 10411), which defines the main spheres of state regulation of waste management taking into account waste management approaches based on the provisions of the European Parliament Framework Directive 2008/98/EU and of the Council Europe of November 19, 2008 "On Waste and Abolition of Certain Directives". The bill is under consideration in the technical VRU committee.

Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine: 1. CMU Resolution # 291 of April 03, 2009 “On Introducing Amendments to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 869 of June 01, 2011”, which amended the regulatory process

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of local governments to set tariffs for housing and municipal utility services. In particular, the resolution has introduced the annual review of tariffs for the planned period, excludes the costs of installing, servicing and replacing commercial accounting devices from the tariffs, and provides the opportunity to include technological losses in the course of transportation of thermal energy in the amount not exceeding 10% of the estimated losses in the tariffs. 2. CMU Resolution # 302 of October 30, 2019 “On Certain Issues of Using the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Upgrading and Modernisation of Material and technical Base of Vocational Training Institutions in 2019”, which distributed 50 million UAH in subvention funds for upgrading the material and technical base of vocational educational establishments and training centers. At the same time, thanks to the advocacy efforts of the PULSE Project, oblast center cities received 42% of the total amount of the subvention, or 21.1 million UAH. 3. CMU Resolution # 319 of April 03, 2019 “On certain Issues of the Provision of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for the Implementation of Activities Aimed at Increasing the Quality of Education”, which provides for the distribution of 1.5 billion UAH in the subvention funds for the purchase of computer equipment (300 million UAH), school buses (325 million UAH), Internet connection (700 million UAH), and special cars for inclusive resource centers (175 million UAH). 4. CMU Resolution # 335 of April 17, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 621 of April 26, 2003”, which envisages changes to the procedure for preparing forecasts and draft programs of social and economic development in the context of the introduction of multi-year budget planning, to the mechanism for preparation of draft National Budget, in particular, the use of such documents as the budget declaration, spending unit activity plans for the medium-term period, forecast of economic and social development of Ukraine for three years, as well as specifies the timeframe for the preparation of forecast and program documents and standardises their structure. 5. CMU Resolution # 357 of April 24, 2019 “On Approving the Regulations for Returning Property or Compensating Its Value to Deported Persons or to Their Heirs in Case of Their Death”. The documents endorsed the mechanism for returning property or reimbursement of its value to certain categories of citizens at the expense of the National Budget, budget of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and local government budgets. Thanks to the work of the PULSE Project expert, the compensation will also take place at the expense of the National Budget, rather than only at the expense of local budgets, as was originally suggested by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. 6. CMU Resolution # 376 of April 17, 2019 “On Certain Issues of the Provision of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Opening and Repairs of the Existing Sport Facilities at Comprehensive Educational Establishments of All Grades”, which determines the procedure and conditions for the provision of the relevant subvention, in particular, the terms of co-financing: for institutions, which are located in the city of Kyiv - at least 30% at the expense of local budgets (in rayons and CTCs - at least 10% and in mountainous populated areas or those on the conflict line - at least 5%). This mechanism provides local governments with the opportunity to raise additional funds for updating sport infrastructure in educational institutions. 7. CMU Resolution # 425 of May 25, 2019 “On Certain Issues of the Implementation of the Pilot Project for the development of the System of Emergency Health Care in the Vinnytsya, Donetsk, Odesa, Poltava, Ternopil Oblasts and in the City of Kyiv and Opening of Quick Response Dispatcher Services”, specifies the activities aimed at preparing a new model for the provision of emergency health care, modernisation of operational-dispatching services, providing the needed specialised transportation vehicles, and setting up emergency service training centers. 8. CMU Resolution # 468 of May 06, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 708 of September 05, 2018”, which introduced the salary rises equal to 50% of the official salary for working in special conditions for employees of state- owned and communally-owned institutions in settlements located on the conflict line. 9. CMU Resolution # 766 of June 05, 2019 “On Endorsing the Mechanisms for Taking Inventory of Lands and Considering Certain Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Void”, which establishes a new algorithm for taking inventory of lands and preparation of land management technical documents, transfers the powers from rayon state administrations to village, town and city councils to organise the work on distributing land parcels between land share owners and on distributing other lands remaining in collective ownership. These changes will have a positive effect the attraction of investments in the agricultural sector of communities,

40 April – June, 2019

streamline the information in the State Land Cadastre, and will increase the effectiveness of monitoring the use and protection of lands. 10. CMU Resolution # 477 of June 05, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine”, which simplified the procedure for obtaining excerpts from the normative pecuniary valuation of lands and provided an opportunity to receive such information on-line. 11. CMU Resolution # 482 of June 05, 2019 “On Approving the Regulation for Recalculation of the Cost of Apartment Block Management Service for the Period It Was not Provided and the Provision of Poor Quality Service”, which determines the mechanism to refund the cost of poorly rendered apartment block management service, or failure to provide such service. The text of this regulatory and legal document takes into account the suggestions of PULSE Project experts on the components of the service and the calculation of the service fee. 12. CMU Resolution # 505 of June 12, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to the Regulation for the Use of Funds Envisioned in the National Budget for the Procurement of Automobiles with Special Equipment to Transport Persons with Disabilities and Children with Disabilities Who Have Disorders of the Musculoskeletal System”, which supplements the list of recipients of special vehicles with executive bodies of city councils (for cities with a population of up to 50 thousand) according to the national social guarantees. 13. CMU Resolution # 522 of June 19, 2019 ”On Introducing Amendments to the Regulation for Determining and Compensation of Losses of Land Owners Users and Land Users”, which provides for the possibility of setting up committees to compensate losses of lands owners not only at executive committees of city (cities of oblast significance) councils, but also with in other cities, villages and towns. This will contribute to strengthening of the material and financial foundations of local governments and will ensure additional revenues to local budgets in the form of compensation. This resolution was prepared by PULSE Project experts. 14. CMU Resolution # 525 of June 19, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to Annexes of Resolution of the cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 268 of March 09, 2006”, which regulates official salaries of local government employees, provides recommendations for revision of salary increase for the service rank of local government officials, and streamlines the size of the salaries of local government officials and employees. The resolution takes into account the suggestions of PULSE Project experts regarding the elimination of disproportions in salaries of a number of local government officials. 15. CMU Resolution # 522 of June 19, 2019 “On Endorsing the Modal Regulations on the School District and Hub School”, which endorsed relevant Regulations to determine the legal status, formation and the main principles of the work of hub schools, as well as promote the environment for the work of hub schools and their affiliations and for the optimisation of the network of educational institutions. 16. CMU Resolution # 561 of June 05, 2019 “On Approving the Regulations and Conditions for License Holders Engaged in Commercial Activities of Generation of Heat for Transportation of Heating Energy by Backbone and Local (Distribution) Networks and Supply of Heating Energy Whose Commercial Activities Are Licensed by Oblast State Administrations and Kyiv City State Administration to Concur with Local Governments Borrowings from Foreign Countries, Banks and International Financial Organisations for Implementation of Investment Programs”, which defines a unified mechanism for entities (license holders whose activities are regulated at the local level) making borrowings from foreign states, banks and international financial organisations for investment projects to get concurrence from local governments. The text of the resolution takes into account the suggestions of PULSE Project experts regarding the procedures for public hearings, guarantees to local governments, as well as the reporting and control of reports on borrowings. 17. CMU Resolution of June 26, 20191 “On Introducing Amendments to the Mechanisms Endorsed by Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 110 of February 16, 2011 and # 541 of May 14, 2012”, whereby the Cabinet of Ministers approved the new procedure, conditions and mechanisms for borrowing to local budgets and the provision of local guarantees. The amendments optimise the mechanism of local borrowing and provision of local guarantees.

Directives of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine:

1 At the time of the preparation of this report, the text of the resolution was not made public.

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1. Directive # 232-p of April 03, 2019 “On Approving the Concept for the Development of Mountainous Territories of the Ukrainian Carpathians”, which introduced a comprehensive approach to resolving problem issues related to the development of mountainous areas, as well as organisational, legal and financial prerequisites for their balanced development. 2. Directive # 280-p of April 24, 2019 “On Approving the Distribution of the Amount of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Infrastructure Improvements of Consolidated Communities in 2019”, which distributed 2.1 billion UAH in the finds of the subvention for infrastructure improvements in CTCs in 2019 from the National Budget to local budgets. 3. Directive # 282-р of April 24, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to the List of Cities of Oblast Significance and Consolidated Territorial Communities, Which Have the Intention to Set up and Support the Functioning of Centers for Administrative Services Including Services of Social Nature in the Transparent Office Format”, which supplemented the list of communities that can receive subvention funds for the construction of Centers for Administrative Services with four cities and ten consolidated territorial communities. 4. Directive # 307-p of August 30, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to the Annex to Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 735 of September 11, 2007”, by which the Cabinet of Ministers amended the list of roads of the total length of 1,500 km that are transferred from the ownership of territorial communities cities and towns to the state ownership and assigned them to the management sectors of UkrAvtoDor [Ukrainian road maintenance company]. 5. Directive # 351-р # 351-r of May 15, 2019 “On Investment Promotion Programs and Regional Development Projects to Be Implemented in 2019 at the Expense of the Funds of the National Regional Development Fund”, by which the Cabinet of Ministers approved the financing of 340 projects in 22 oblasts and the city of Kyiv according to investment promotion programs and projects of regional development amounting to more than 3.3 billion UAH from the funds of the National Regional Development Fund. PULSE Project experts participate in regional selection committees for competitive selection of projects. 6. Directive # 355-p of May 22, 2019 “On Endorsing the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Concept to Reform the System of the Provision of Cultural Services to the Population”, which takes into account the proposals of PULSE Project experts concerning the timeframe, tasks and involvement of local governments in the course of putting together the list, content, volumes and cost of cultural services, service quality indicators and assessment, introducing a new model for funding cultural services and optimising the basic network of cultural institutions. 7. Directive # 374-р of May 22, 2019 “On the Implementation of the Pilot Project for the Introduction of the Electronic Register of Cultural Heritage Items”, which introduces a pilot project for electronic records of cultural heritage items located on the territory of the Vinnytsya oblast. 8. Directive # 383-p of May 22, 2019 “On Approving the Concept for the Development of the System of Emergency Health Care”, which identified the priority areas of reforms, in particular, provision of effective first aid, development of a new model for distribution of official duties, training and qualification requirements in the system emergency aid management, service quality management, emergency response, prevention of emergency situations, as well as the division of tasks between local governments and state executive authorities in the course of the preparation of the plan for the implementation of the Concept. 9. Directive # 402-p of May 22, 2019 “On Approving the Concept for the Implementation of the National Policy in the Sphere of Industrial Contamination”, which defined the legal and institutional preconditions for the effective prevention, reduction and control of industrial contamination and the fulfillment of Ukraine's international obligations, in particular, with regard to the implementation Directive 2010/75/EU, as well as the preparation of the action plan for the implementation of the Concept with the involvement of local governments. 10. Directive # 372-р of May 06, 2019 “On Considering the City Consolidated Territorial Community as Capable”, which recognised the Mukachevo City CTC as capable as composed of territorial communities of the city of Mukachevo and the villages of Lavky, Pavshyno, Shenborn, Nyzhnyi Koropets, and Nove Davydkovo of the Zakarpattya oblast. The approval of this regulatory and legal document made it possible to revise and increase the amount of inter-budget transfers for 2019 for the newly established CTC. 11. Directive # 387-р of June 05, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to Annex 22 to Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 14 of January 16, 2019”, which increased by 50 million UAH the additional subsidy to cover the expenditure categories associated with maintenance of

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health care establishments transferred from the National Budget to local governments of the Cherkasy oblast, which appealed to the AUC about this problem. In particular, the directive provides additional 10 million UAH of the subsidy to budgets of cities of oblast significance, as well as increases the subsidy for CTCs by 40 million UAH. 12. Directive # 419-p of December 04, 2019 “On Approving the Concept for the Implementation of the National Policy in the Sphere of Vocational (Professional and Technical) Education under the Title: «Modern Vocational (Professional and Technical) Education” for the Period till 2027”, which, in particular, takes into account AUC proposals regarding the phased transition of powers to fund vocational education establishments located in cities of oblast significance. 13. Directive # 420-р of June 12, 2019 “On Approving the Distribution in 2019 of the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets to Conduct the Works Related to Opening and Ensuring the Functioning of Centers for Administrative Services Including Services of the Social Nature in the Transparent Office Format”, by which the Cabinet of Ministers distributed 47.9 million UAH in subvention funds to two cities of oblast significance and eight CTCs in seven oblasts of Ukraine. 14. Directive # 443-р of June 19, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to Paragraph 6 of the Action Plan for the Implementation of the New Phase of the Local Government Reform and Reform of Territorial Arrangement of Government Institutions in Ukraine for 2019 – 2021”, which amended the timeframe and actions for the implementation of the local government reform in 2019 - 2020, in particular, with regard to the development (with the involvement of the AUC) and the submission by the end of 2019 of proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers for amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine (in the part dealing with the principles of decentralisation, subsidiarity, ubiquity and capacity of local self-governance), as well as new versions of the laws “On Local Self-Governance in Ukraine”, “On Local State Administrations” and on amendments to the Tax and Budget Codes of Ukraine. Also, the Cabinet of Ministers endorsed six directives in the reporting quarter to introduce changes to long-term perspective plans for the formation of community territories in five oblasts: Vinnytsya (of May 08, 2019 # 298-p and of June 06, 2019 # 467-p), Donetsk (of June 19, 2019, # 469-р), Dnipropetrovsk (of May 22, # 344-р), Ivano-Frankivsk (of April 25, 2019 # 252-р), and Cherkasy (of April 25, 2019 # 253-p). In addition to this, upon the request of the AUC and local governments, the Cabinet of Ministers removed two draft regulations to introduce amendments to the long-term plans for the formation of community territories (Ternopil and Poltava oblasts) from consideration for further elaboration. Thanks to the work of representatives of the PULSE Project in the Cabinet of Ministers and Cabinet of Ministers committees, it was possible to prevent or mitigate the negative impact of five regulatory and legal documents on local self-governance. For example, upon the initiative, or with the support of the AUC, the following draft documents were rejected in the reporting quarter: 1. On April 11, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers Committee for European, Euro-Atlantic Integration, International Cooperation and Regional Development received a Draft Law “Introducing Amendments to Article 16 of the Law of Ukraine "On Local Self-Governance in Ukraine". The draft document determined the new principles of the accessibility of the web content, which should serve as a guiding principle for local governments, their structural divisions and their companies, institutions and organisations while designing and/or updating their official web sites. PULSE Project managed to remove this potentially negative for local governments draft law from consideration and to send it for elaboration, They managed to do so by indicating the inappropriateness of introducing the proposed changes specifically to the law "On Local Self- Governance" and the lack of proposals for alternative approaches to the solution of the problem, as well as the absence of the appropriate financial and economic justification. 2. On April 11 and June 13, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers Committee for European, Euro-Atlantic Integration, International Cooperation and Regional Development received a Draft Law “On the Nation-Wide Targeted Program to Transfer Dormitories to the Ownership of Territorial Communities for 2019 ― 2021” for consideration. The draft document envisioned a number of steps for the implementation of activities aimed at transferring of about 500 dormitories from the state and private ownership to communal ownership. In particular, the draft law offered a suggestion to pay compensation for the transfer of privatised dormitories to local governments at the expense of local budgets. A PULSE Project representative defended the position of local governments and argued the impossibility of such a transfer, which in essence would translate additional expenditures from the National Budget to local budgets. Taking into account that the author of the document (Ministry of

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Regional Development) even after refinement of the draft law failed to offer a mechanism for resolving this problem, this regulatory and legal document was removed from consideration. 3. On April 16 and May 07, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers Committee on Social Policy and Humanitarian Development received a draft law “On Introducing Amendments to Certain Ukrainian Legislation Regarding the Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities” for consideration. The draft document offered a suggestion to impose on local governments the requirement to re-equip or exchange housing (communal or company-owned), as well as housing due in the form of private property for a person with disabilities in case this housing can not be re-equipped or re-developed. Representatives of PULSE Project ere against the approval of the draft law, given the absence of a legally determined mechanism for exchange of company-owned housing in Ukraine, lack of clear approaches to the conditions and procedures for organising such exchange, as well as the lack of sources of funding in local government budgets to pay for such exchange. Since the issues mentioned above were not resolved in the new version of the, this document was removed from consideration. 4. On May 23, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers Committee for European, Euro-Atlantic Integration, International Cooperation and Regional Development received draft Directives “On Introducing Amendments to the Long-Term Perspective Plan for the Formation of Community Territories of the ” and “On Introducing Amendments to the Long-Term Perspective Plan for the Formation of Community Territories of the Poltava Oblast”. The implementation of the provisions of these two regulatory and legal documents would substantially worsen the condition of AUC member communities. In particular, they would face additional risks in the course of the implementation of local budgets: revenue reduction and a sharp increase in expenditures (without proper compensation for such losses from the National Budget). Upon the request of PULSE Project experts, the draft resolution on introducing amendments to the long-term perspective plan for the formation of community territories of the Ternopil region was withdrawn from the consideration of the Cabinet of Ministers Committee. The other draft document with regard to the Poltava oblast was withdrawn from consideration during the Cabinet of Ministers meeting on June 19, 2019 upon the request of the AUC representative and was sent to the main author for elaboration. At the same time, in some cases the Cabinet of Ministers ignored the requirement to conduct discussions and approval procedures for regulatory and legal documents on local government issues with local government representatives and Ukraine-wide local government associations (as stipulated by the Cabinet of Ministers Regulations). These actions led to the adoption by the Cabinet of Ministers of several regulatory and legal documents that will have a negative effect on the decentralisation reform, financial situation of local budgets, as well as the well-being of citizens, in particular: 1. On April 03, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers received the Draft Resolution “On Introducing Amendments to the Regulations Endorsed by Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 283 of March 28 and # 1117 of December 18, 2018” prepared by the Ministry of Health Care of Ukraine. The document removed, as of April 01, 2019, the patients included in the "red lists" from the calculation of the capitalisation rate, which posed a threat for local budgets in the 2nd quarter of 2019 to have health care establishments not funded through the National Health Service of Ukraine in the amount of 360 million UAH. Despite the repeated appeals of the AUC and local government representatives to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers endorsed Resolution # 295 of April 03, 2019 without earmarking funds in the National Budget for compensation of the relevant losses of local budgets. 2. On June 26, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers at its meeting endorsed Resolution # 560 “On Certain Issues Related to the Protection of Rights of Consumers of Housing and Municipal Utility Services”, by which the Cabinet of Ministers introduced prices (tariffs) for heat supply services rendered to for the population of cities of oblast significance and the city of Kyiv. The set prices (tariffs) are much lower than the economically justified ones (by 28%). In the course of the consideration of this draft regulatory and legal document at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on June 19, 2019, the AUC was against the endorsement of such a decision, because the additional local government expenditures associated with its implementation could reach 7 billion UAH in the upcoming heating season, and appealed to the Prime Minister with proposals aimed at improving the conditions of municipal heating power companies. Despite the support the AUC had from all the Vice Prime Ministers and the Minister of Finance, the decision that posed a threat to the stable work of municipal heating companies and led to additional risks in heat and hot water supply to the population was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

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Taking into account the scope of unresolved problems mentioned above and their negative consequences for the local government reform, the AUC continues its active work to abolish controversial decision of the Cabinet of Ministers and works closely with local governments to elaborate potential mechanisms to mitigate the negative impact of such decisions on community residents and local budgets, including opportunities to increase the effectiveness of interaction (communication) between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and local governments.

Sectoral forums Sectoral forums represent a new practice in sectoral policy dialogue. This is a platform to approve the strategy for the development of the sector together with the follow-up monitoring of its implementation and necessary adjustments. In addition to this, this is an opportunity for sectoral specialists to communicate with the line ministry and technical parliamentary committee, National Deputies of Ukraine, other sectoral experts, and representatives of NGOs active in the sector, as well as to exchange of experience in resolving practical issues. The sectoral forum is a platform for the consolidation of positions of state executive authorities and local governments, outlining the common direction for the future development and reforming of the respective sector. Forum of the Association of Ukrainian Cities on Education June 06, 2019, city of Kyiv The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine organised and conducted a Sectoral Forum on Education in cooperation with the Association of Ukrainian Cities with the support of the PULSE Project. More than 40 people participated in the event including directors of departments of education from oblast center cities of Ukraine, representatives of the Executive Office of the AUC, PULSE Project, and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. The Forum took place in the format of the working meeting and round table discussion. In the course of the round table discussion, First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Pavlo Hobzey, Executive Director of the AUC Oleksandr Slobozhan, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Vadym Karandiy, Director of the Main Department of Comprehensive Secondary and Pre-School Education of the Directorate for Pre-School and School Education Yuri Kononenko, Head of the Expert Group on State and Public Administration of Education of the Directorate of Pre-School and School Education Volodymyr Bozhynskyi, acting Director of the Department of Pre-School Education of the Main Directorate of Comprehensive Secondary and Pre-School Education of the Directorate of Pre-School and School Education Svitlana Neryanova, and Deputy Director of the Institute for the Modernisation of the Content of Education Roman Shyyan discussed the following issues important for local governments: x education subvention and other problem issues of funding in the sector; x expanding the network of inclusive resource centers and organizational aspects of their activities; x functioning of vocational (professional and technical) educational establishments; x new approaches towards the competence development of teachers; x educational and methodological support of teachers in educational establishments in the context of implementation of the tasks of the New Ukrainian School; x availability of high-quality and modern comprehensive secondary education and setting up a network of comprehensive secondary educational establishments; x prospects of introducing specialised education as of September 01, 2017 and the legislative opportunities for the Cabinet of Ministers to shift the start for 2013 - 2014; x enrolment of children to Grade 1; and, x the current status and future prospects for the development of pre-school education (presentation). In the course of the discussion, directors of departments of education of oblast center cities drew the attention of the Ministry of Education and Science to the following issues: x the need for legal regulation of pre-school education by children who are not registered and do not live in larger cities; x lack of funds in city budgets to support the proper network of educational establishments and the construction of social infrastructure facilities; x lack of qualified staff to work in educational establishments, in particular, educators and assistant educators in pre-school educational establishments; x piloting Grade 3 of the New Ukrainian School and state support for this experiment; x the need take into consideration the actual number of schoolchildren in the calculations of the formula for the distribution of the education subvention and of the amount of resources from the State Budget of Ukraine required for these purposes (2.5 billion UAH);

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x financing of private comprehensive secondary educational establishments at the expense of the education subvention; x transfer of vocational (professional and technical) educational establishments located in oblast center cities to funding from oblast budgets (the MESU proposes to do so as of 2020, while the Ministry of Finance insists on the postponement of this process till 2022); and, x on bringing to schools Lego kits as required for the implementation of the concept of the New Ukrainian School in October, 2019. At the end of the forum, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine supported the proposals presented by the PULSE Project expert about the continuation of the dialogue in the nearest future.

Forum of the Association of Ukrainian Cities on Health Care May 23, 2019, city of Ivano-Frankivsk. The forum brought together approximately 90 participants (directors of structural units of city councils on health care, directors of health care establishments, mayors of villages and towns, deputy heads and heads of health care institutions). Deputy Minister of Health Pavlo Kovtonyuk, Head of the National Health Service of Ukraine Oleh Petrenko, and Advisor to the Acting Minister of Health Care Matviy Khrenov attended the meeting. The meeting participants raised a number of key health care issues, in particular: - shortage of the health care subvention funds to cover the expenditure categories associated with the treatment of patients with diabetes mellitus, renal failure, salaries, as well as maintenance of health care establishments transferred from the National Budget to local budgets; - lack of consistency in terminology in the basic health care legislation, in particular, in the part dealing with the development of the network of state-owned and communally-owned health care institutions, approval of decisions on its optimisation, establishment, reorganisation and changing the specialisation of state-owned and communally-owned health care institutions with the terminology of the Civil Code of Ukraine defining the forms of reorganisation of health care establishments where forms of reorganisation (merger, annexation, division, transformation) are defined; - absence of the legislative framework on state guarantees of health care under the program of health care guarantees at the secondary care (with regard to their introduction as of 2020); - imperfect formula to determine the composition of the hospital district board approved by Directive of the Ministry of Health # 165 of February 20, 2017, namely: the majority of the board is composed in such a way that even small communities (3,000 – 5,000 inhabitants) have their representatives, while centers of hospital districts representing more than half of the inhabitants of the district are the minority (the number of representatives of small CTCs is bigger than the number of representatives from cities with much larger population), thus leading to a misbalanced composition of the composition of the hospital board and ineffective work on optimisation and transformation of low-capacity hospitals; - the need to set up a network of health care establishments within the hospital districts with a priority focus on the needs of communities, local government powers at the community and rayon levels, etc.

Cooperation with line ministries PULSE experts continued to cooperate with ministries and other central executive authorities. Below are the main achievements in this area in the reporting period.

Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Municipal Utilities of Ukraine A PULSE Project expert participated in the meeting of the working group of the Ministry of Regional Development for the development of regulatory framework to support the implementation of the Law of Ukraine “On Housing and Municipal Utility Services” where he emphasised the necessity of accelerating the preparation of the regulatory framework for the Law of Ukraine “On Housing and Municipal Utility Services”.

In the course of the round table discussion organised by the Ministry of Regional Development under the title| "Energy modernisation of apartment blocks", the PULSE Project expert expressed a clear position that the implementation of a set of energy efficiency activities for the modernisation of apartment blocks should take place with active co-financing from local governments. However, such participation is possible only

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with sufficient financial resources of territorial communities. Therefore, the National Budget of Ukraine for 2020 should ensure the relevant level of local budget revenues.

The PULSE Project expert is a member of the Ministry of Regional Development committee for reviewing projects that can be implemented at the expense of the subvention from the National Budget to local budgets for infrastructure improvements in CTCs. The PULSE Project expert contributed to the impartial and objective selection of projects submitted by CTCs to the committee commission, defended and protected the interests of local governments. The meeting of the committee took place on a weekly basis, which provided the opportunity to promptly review the submitted projects and approve them, as well as to timely finance them. In the reporting quarter, the committee approved 1,239 projects submitted by 419 CTCs for the total amount of 1.1 billion UAH.

During the reporting quarter, the Ministry of Regional Development set up two working groups consisting of representatives of the PULSE Project and AUC: - on improving the legislation on local elections; - on revision of the laws on local self-governance and on local state administrations.

These actions of the Ministry are associated with the implementation of the Cabinet of Ministers action plan for the implementation of a new phase of the decentralisation reform for the period of 2019 - 2021 (Directive # 77-p of January 23, 2019). Also, the membership of the working groups includes leading scientists, practitioners and experts. During the reporting quarter, one meeting of the first group took place. The group participants reviewed the conceptual approaches to improving local elections. The main point is to reject the proportional system of local elections. The existing system does not ensure the proportional representation of all communities in rayon and oblast councils, which contradicts with the Constitution of Ukraine. In addition to this, the existing system does not ensure the elections of persons who enjoy high level of support to city councils of larger cities. The mandates are given to the persons who use the rating of the respective party, but do not have a personal rating. During the reporting quarter, two meetings of the second group took place. The Ministry offered a suggestion to substantially review the legislation on local self-governance and local state administrations within the framework of the current Constitution: - introduce a new classification of powers and transferring most of them into special laws; - review approaches for the pre-term termination of powers of councils and their chairmen; and, - provide additional regulation of the issues related to internal and external monitoring of activities of local governments.

The AUC provided the Ministry of Regional Development with its proposals to the Action Plan for the implementation of the Concept for the Development of Mountainous Areas of the Ukrainian Carpathians for the period of 2019 - 2027, which came from the Ivano-Frankivsk AUC Regional Office. The territory of this oblast has the biggest number of populated areas a status of mountainous (240). Therefore, these proposals provide the best reflection of the actual problems and ways to resolve them. The action plan, in particular, includes the following sections: promotion of competitive economy of mountain territories, development of spatially balanced transportation, industrial and social infrastructure; development of the tourism potential; and, ensuring the environmental safety. In the reporting quarter, a PULSE Project expert became a member of the working group for the analysis of problem issues of mountainous territories, which will provide an opportunity to join efforts to develop future activities that will contribute to resolving critical issues of the development of territorial communities located in the mountains.

National Commission for Energy and Utilities Regulation The purpose of the working meeting was to discuss AUC proposals prepared by a PULSE Project expert to the draft NEURC Resolution “On Endorsing Amendments to Licensing Conditions for Economic Activities in the Sphere of Heat Supply”, which was approved on February 19, 2019. In the course of the meeting, representatives of the PULSE Project, together with local government representatives and sectoral associations of heat and water supply companies categorically rejected the position of the NEURC to give the powers to set tariffs for a number of companies to their authority. Following the discussion, the approval process for the NEURC resolution mentioned above was stopped.

National Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Land Cadastre

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On April 01, the National Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Land Cadastre in cooperation with the AUC and with the participation of the analyst PULSE Project conducted a meeting to discuss the transfer of powers to register land plots to local governments. The meeting participants, in particular, presented a survey of 320 rural, town and city councils about their preparedness to exercise such powers.

On May 23, 2019, a PULSE Project expert, upon the invitation of the National Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Land Cadastre, participated in the First International Conference "GEODIGITAL UKRAINE". The event brought together the international community of geoinformation technology specialists to share their professional experience, find new ideas and establish a platform for combining business practices with the needs of the state and local governments.

National Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Preservation of Ukraine On June 04, the Association of Ukrainian Cities together with the National Energy Efficiency Fund signed a Memorandum of Cooperation. The purpose of the Memorandum is to establish close cooperation and consolidate all the efforts of the AUC and the National Energy Efficiency Fund with the purpose of supporting energy efficiency initiatives, implementing incentive activities and supporting the implementation of projects to improve the energy efficiency of buildings and energy saving, in particular in the residential sector, taking into account the national plan for energy efficiency, reducing carbon dioxide emissions in pursuance of the Paris Agreement, implementation of the “acquis communautaire” of the European Union and the Agreement on the establishment of the Energy Community, as well as ensuring compliance of Ukraine with international obligations in the sphere of energy efficiency.

Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine prepared Model Regulations on a specialised service for primary social and psychological counselling of persons who have suffered from domestic violence and/or gender-based violence (specialised service). According to the Model Regulations, the government was supposed to set up a specialised service in each administrative and territorial unit. To coordinate the preparation of the final version of the Model Regulations of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy conducted a meeting of the working group with the Ministry of Regional Development and the PULSE Project expert. During the discussion of the document, representatives of the Ministries supported the position of the PULSE Project expert and removed the provision with the requirement to establish a specialised service in each administrative and territorial unit. Since Ukraine has more than 20 thousand village, town and city populated areas, the expenditures for salaries of employees of such specialised services (given the rate of one employee minimum salary) would amount to 1 billion UAH. In the nearest future, the Cabinet of Ministers is planning to consider the Model Regulations.

The PULSE Project continues its active cooperation with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy for the preparation a single national and local level social policy. In this regard, the PULSE Project conducted a meeting of the AUC Social Protection Professional Group in Kharkiv on May 23 – 24 with the participation of the Director of a Main Department from the Ministry. The high level of the representation provided an opportunity to formulate a single position in the sphere of social protection in the course of the discussions with representatives of local government social protection departments. The questions that were considered during the meeting and the decisions taken are indicated in Section 1.1.1 "Preparation and approval of strategies for sectoral reforms Strategy for preparation and adoption of sectoral reforms" – “Meetings of Professional Groups”.

A representative of the PULSE Project participated in the elaboration of the draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to Annexes of Resolution of the cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 268 of March 09, 2006”. The draft resolution envisages the revision of official salary rates and ranks of local government officials, and salaries of local government employees. Thanks to the assistance of the PULSE Project, the government eliminated disparities in the salaries of a number of officials and fixed some errors. Also, Project representatives provided support in the preparation of the draft document for the meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers Committee and the Cabinet of Ministers.

Ministry of Youth and Sport of Ukraine The Ministry of Youth and Sport of Ukraine prepared a Draft Directive “On Endorsing Model Manning Schedules for the Number of Staff Working in Youth Centers”. The document envisioned that these staffing

48 April – June, 2019

standards would be mandatory for municipal youth centers. PULSE Project experts did not support this position. Thanks to the well-established cooperation with the Ministry, the latter took into account the position of the PULSE Project expert. The staffing standards approved by Directive of the Ministry of Youth and Sport # 1648 of April 02, 2019 make the staffing standards a recommendation rather than an obligatory requirement for local governments. Also, the document provided local governments with the opportunity to introduce other positions in youth centers that are not provided for in the Directive. This made it possible for approximately 300 existing youth centers to continue their work without changing their staffing standards. It is planned that each territorial community will have a youth center after the local government reform (approximately 1,500 centers). Ministry of Youth and Sport together with a PULSE Project expert and other partners developed a list of commercial services that can be provided by municipal youth centers. In the nearest future, this list will be approved by a directive of the Ministry. The PULSE Project continues to actively participate in the formation of the youth policy. On April 17, the Ministry of Youth and Sport endorsed Directive # 1905 of the Regulation on the National Youth Capital of Ukraine Competition, which stipulates that the Association of Ukrainian Cities is the only official partner in organising and conducting this Competition. A PULSE Project expert participated in the working group of the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Ukraine to develop a Strategy for the Formation of a Healthy and Safe Lifestyle for Children and Youth. The expert submitted additional proposals to the National Strategy for the Formation of Healthy Lifestyle for Children and Youth for the period up to 2025. The Ministry took the suggestions into account.

National Service of Labour of Ukraine On April 26, the court found the procedure for local governments to exercise oversight of compliance with labour legislation invalid. The National Service of Labour prepared a new oversight procedure. Since the National Service of Labour prepared the previous procedure together with PULSE Project experts, the Project was also involved in the conciliation meeting on consideration of proposals to the new procedure. Ministry of Science and Education of Ukraine During the reporting period, a PULSE Project expert participated in three meetings of the MESU working group to prepare legislative documents on issues of countering and preventing bullying (harassment) in educational establishments. In the course of the meetings, the participants prepared draft Regulations on response to bullying (harassment) in educational establishments and application of corrective steps, an action plan aimed at preventing and counteracting bullying (harassment) in educational establishments, as well as recommendations for the preparation of action plans by educational establishments. Thanks to the participation of the PULSE Project expert, the texts of the documents provide a clear definition of powers the manager of the educational establishment, the person authorised by the manager of the educational establishment, the committee, the full-age participants of the educational process, as well as of the founder of the educational establishment. Also, the document provides simplified reporting forms for managers of educational establishments. Following the public discussion, the documents were elaborated and were sent to state executive authorities for concurrence.

In the 2nd quarter of 2019, the MESU established a working group to revise the formula for the distribution of the education subvention between local budgets. During the two previous meetings, the PULSE Project expert emphasised the need to make changes to the formula, in particular to take into account the academic hours of individual training; expenditures for substituting teachers who are temporarily absent; actual number of schoolchildren; actual need to increase teacher staff and remuneration for educators who work in prolonged school day groups. Also, the PULSE Project expert noted that the formula for city type CTCs with rural populated areas on their territory is calculated as if it is for cities of oblast significance proper and does not take into account the estimated number of schoolchildren in classes for rural areas. Consequently, the expert came up with a suggestion to calculate the amount of the education subvention for educational establishments located in rural areas based on how the amount of the subvention is calculated for educational establishments of villages and towns. So far, the Ministry of Education and Science is been preparing a new versions of the document.

Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine During the reporting quarter, a PULSE Project expert participated in a working group to develop the criteria and methodology for setting up a Register of Decent Road Maintenance Companies. As a result, the

49 QUARTERLY REPORT for the implementation of the PULSE Project

preparation of the Register of Decent Road Maintenance Companies, which consists of three groups: road construction companies; manufacturers and dealers of road construction machinery; and, manufacturers and dealers of road construction materials, started. Thanks to this Register of Decent Road Maintenance Companies, local governments will receive a list of decent contracting organisations and other enterprises working in the sphere of road maintenance, which have a positive image and experience in the road management and maintenance, which will help to resolve the problem of permanent disruption of the road construction and repair works carried out during the road construction season.

The AUC received appeals from CTC mayors about the problems with the performance of rayon road maintenance companies (Poltava and Zhytomyr oblast). The scope of their work on the construction, repair, and maintenance of general purpose highways of the general use decreased in 2018 several times. This situation has a negative effect on the condition of roads in consolidated communities. Thanks to the aggressive actions of the PULSE Project during the reporting quarter, the Velykobahachanska CTC started to resolve such a problem. The community entered into an agreement with the Ministry of Infrastructure and other line ministries and departments to transfer the whole property of the rayon road maintenance company to the ownership of the territorial community. The Ministry started to work on introducing amendments to the draft Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers “On Introducing Amendments to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 1482 of September 21, 1998” (regarding the transfer of the state-owned and communally-owned property rights) that would facilitate the transfer of the property mentioned above to the ownership of the territorial community.

Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Representatives of the PULSE Project participated in the meeting to discuss the proposals on how to optimise the procedure for the provision of administrative services in the sphere of registration of land parcels and transfer of these powers to local governments. Following the meeting, its participants decided to set up a working group to reduce the phases and duration of the process of obtaining a land parcel for ownership or lease.

The expert of the PULSE Project participated in the working group for the distribution of equipment for Centers for Administrative Services for the production of passports and driver's licenses. The working group members identified the list of the communities that will receive sets of this equipment.

Activity 1.3. Local governments improved their practice and quality of services because of the sound decentralised legislative basis for local governments

1.3.1. Legal and technical assistance

During the reporting quarter, the Project continued supporting its network of Reform Offices at AUC Regional Offices consisting of regional consultants on legal and budget issues. Also, the Project supported the work of six regional local economic development consultants to focus on rendering priority assistance on local economic development issues in 30 territorial communities from all oblasts. The activities of all these consultants were supported by regional communications consultants.

During the reporting quarter, the network of consultants provided, in general, 2,479 consultations for local government officials, local council members and other persons, with the total number consultations provided since the beginning of the project being 30,925.

By technical area, the regional consultants provided the following consultations: on legal issues - 968; on budget issues – 1,302; and, on local economic development issues - 209.

With the assistance of AUC reform offices, the following results were achieved in the reporting quarter: • 28 CTCs were established comprising 246 former smaller territorial communities; • on June 30, 2019, the initial local elections were conducted in 66 consolidated territorial communities (seven city, 16 town, and 43 village CTCs) in 19 oblasts. These 66 CTCs comprised 246 former local councils (city - 9, town - 17, and village - 317) with 34 CTCs waiting for the CEC to schedule their initial local elections.

50 April – June, 2019

• seven territorial communities of cities of oblast significance annexed 12 village communities.

1.3.2. Web-tools to increase the efficiency of local government activities

The web-tools prepared by the PULSE Project during Project Year One were integrated into the AUC web site. The main page of the web site provides access to the following tools:  Electronic Law Creator;  Consultations;  e-petitions; and,  Fair of Ideas.

The Decentralisation Section provides links to the Sectoral Dialogue page where users may choose to go to 10 Sectoral Platforms.

In the Consultations Section, PULSE Project experts published 36 consultations in the following sectors: land and communally-owned property – 12, local finance – one, education - 20, and health care - three. Inquiries of local nature received from the site through the Consultations Section receive their answers from experts through emails.

During the reporting quarter, the AUC website posted 20 explanations from the central state executive authorities including those received upon appeals from the AUC or local governments: x in the sphere of land relations and communally-owned property - 11; x in the sphere of social protection - two; x in the sphere of education (including financial support) - four; x in the sphere of health care (including financial support) – two; and, x in the sphere of local finance - one; Health care reform in Ukraine - PULSE WEBINAR in the America House in Kyiv On May 28, the Project conducted a webinar on health care consolidated territorial communities. Svitlana Ostashko, A PULSE Project expert on health care, answered the questions from the audience. She also made a presentation on the health care system in the country. During the webinar, the audience put a lot of questions to the PULSE Project expert, in particular:  problem issues with the implementation of the health care reform in consolidated territorial communities, such as lack of financial support for the health care sector;  increase of expenditure categories delegated by the state to local governments without providing the necessary resources for their implementation;  treatment of patients with diabetes mellitus and renal failure; and,  ensuring salary payments for employees in the health care sector, etc. The event was conducted by the PULSE Project in cooperation with the America House in Kyiv (America House Kyiv) and the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX). The video of the webinar is available at: https://youtu.be/ep54n52yrnI

1.3.3. Feedback: receiving and disseminating

Data collection from regional consultants or from communities During the reporting period, in the course of the preparation for the Sectoral Education Forum and the 15th Ukrainian Municipal Forum, the PULSE Project conducted a survey of local governments on key issues in the sector of education. PULSE Project experts reviewed approximately 250 letters from local governments. As a result of this work, the experts identified 167 key problem issues that need to be resolved, as well as prepared proposals on how to resolve them with regard to nine sectors: local finance; housing and municipal utilities; public education; health care; social protection; organisational and legal framework for local governments; land and communally-owned property; local economic development and urban development; administrative services and e-governance. The AUC sent the consolidated problem questions and suggestions for their solution to the relevant central state executive authorities.

Aiming at improving the maintenance of the State Land Cadastre database, a PULSE Project expert conducted a survey in April – June, 2019 on the transfer of powers to local governments to perform the state registration of land parcels. Based on the findings of the survey, 320 village, town, and city councils reported

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about their preparedness to perform such additional powers. The results of the survey were used during the meeting of the AUC with the National Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Land Cadastre.

Aiming at determining the amount of funds spent by local governments for the provision of state-guaranteed privileges and benefits, namely privileges for urban public transportation services and communication, a PULSE Project expert collected the information from cities of oblast significance about the funds earmarked in local budgets for these purposes. This information was used during the Dialogue Day at the 15th Ukrainian Municipal Forum.

52 April – June, 2019

Expected Result 2: Resources under local self-governance authority increased

Impact on local government activities

In January – June, 2019, local budget revenues amounted up to 283,583.0 million UAH including tax revenues of 126,885.6 million UAH, non-tax revenues of 11,964.9 million UAH, and revenues from transactions with capital – 1,302.5 million UAH. Local budget own revenues for January – June, 2019 as compared with the same period in 2018 were 15.0% higher (or, +18,297.0 million UAH), which is mainly due to the increase in tax revenues. Inter-budget transfers in the amount of 143,132.6 million UAH were transferred to local budgets from the National Budget in January – June, 2019, which is 15.7% less (or, - 26,675.0 million UAH) than in the same period of 2018 (wee Table. 2.1).

Table 2.1. Dynamics of local budget revenues in 2019 as compared with 2018 January – June, January – June, Increase in 2019 as Indicators 2019, million 2018, million compared with 2018 UAH UAH million UAH % Local budget revenues including 283,583.0 291,961.0 -8,378.0 -2.9 transfers Local budget revenues without 140,450.4 122,153.4 18,297.0 15.0 transfers Tax revenues 126,885.6 107,429.0 19,456.6 18.1

Non-tax revenues 11,964.9 13,389.7 -1,424.8 -10.6 Revenues from transaction with 1,302.5 1,030.7 271.8 26.4 capital Inter-budget transfers 143,132.6 169,807.6 -26,675.0 -15.7 Source: according to the data of the State Treasury Service of Ukraine.

The amount of collections from the personal income tax, which is the main budget revenue source of local governments, for January – June, 2019 constituted 77,204.1 million UAH. As compared with the same period in 2018, the increase in revenues constituted 13,882.8 million UAH (or, + 21.9%). Collections from profit tax revenues amounted up to 5,264.8 million UAH, which is 363.7 million UAH more (or, + 7.4%) than in the corresponding period of the previous year. The collections from rent payments and fees for using other natural resources in January – June, 2019 constituted 2,649.7 million UAH, which is 457.4 million UAH more (or, + 20.9%) as compared to the same period in 2018.

The collections to local budgets from revenues of the excise tax on fuel produced in Ukraine and on the part of excise tax revenues on fuel imported into the customs territory of Ukraine in January – June, 2019 constituted 3,560.2 million UAH, which is 1.2% (or, -44.2 million UAH) less as compared with the same period of the previous year. The excise tax on the sale of excisable goods (alcohol and tobacco) by business entities for January – June, 2019 amounted up to 2,879.3 million UAH, which is 3.3% (or, +91.3 million UAH) more than in 2018.

The tendency of the growing role of local taxes and fees in filling local budgets remained: in January - June 2019, local taxes and fees amounted up to 34,123.5 million UAH, which is 23.5% (or, +6,490.5 million UAH) more. There was a noticeable increase in tax revenues from real estate, other than land (+514.2 million UAH, or 32.3%), land tax (increase +950.4 million UAH, or + 23.4%), and flat tax (an increase of +3,004.5 million UAH, or + 22.8%). On a separate note, one should pay attention to the dynamics of the tourist tax increase, because in 2018 the system for this tax collection was revised. In January – June, 2019, local budgets received 57.9 million UAH from the tourist tax, which is 71.3% (or, +24.1 million UAH) more as compared with the same period in 2018.

As in previous years, in 2019, the volume of revenues to local budgets from other taxes and fees significantly decreased: in January - June, collections from other taxes and fees constituted 1,204.0 million UAH, which is 59.7% (or, -1,785.2 million UAH) less than in 2018 (see Table 2.2).

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Table 2.2. Dynamics of the main budget revenue sources of local governments January – June, January – Increase in 2019 as Indicators 2019, million June, 2018, compared with 2018 UAH million UAH million UAH % 1. Personal income tax 77,204.1 63,321.3 13,882.8 21.9 2. Profits tax 5,264.8 4,901.1 363.7 7.4 3. Rent payments and fees for the 2,649.7 2 192,3 457.4 20.9 use of other natural resources 4. Part of the excise tax on fuel produced in Ukraine and part of the 3,560.2 3,604.4 -44.2 -1.2 excise tax on fuel imported into the customs territory of Ukraine 5. Excise tax on sales of excisable goods (alcohol and tobacco) by 2,879.3 2,788.0 91.3 3.3 business entities 6. Local taxes and fees, including: 34,123.5 27,633.0 6,490.5 23.5 17,818.8 14,362.5 3,456.3 24.1 6.1. Property tax, including: 2,108.61 1,594.4 514.2 32.3 - tax on immovable property other than the land plot - land tax 15,576.44 12,626.0 2,950.4 23.4

6.2. Flat tax 16,193.1 13,188.6 3,004.5 22.8 6.3. Parking fees for transportation 53.8 48.7 5.1 10.5 vehicles 6.4. Tourist tax 57.9 33.8 24.1 71.3

7. Other taxes and fees 1,204.0 2,989.2 - 1,785.2 -59.7 Source: According to the data of the State Treasury Service of Ukraine.

In the 2nd quarter of 2019, the Treasury transferred to local budget a basic subsidy in the amount of 4.3 billion UAH. The Treasury also provided other additional grants to local budgets in the full amount according to the planned indicators for this period. The Treasury transferred the reverse subsidy to the National Budget in the amount of 2.8 billion UAH, or 99.9% of the planed indicators for the reporting period. Based on the results of the second quarter, the Cabinet of Ministers partially distributed the following subventions to local budgets: 1) a subvention to perform the works related to opening and maintenance of Centers for Administrative Services including social services to be provided in the Transparent Office format (approved for the amount of 150 million UAH; the Cabinet of Ministers did not distribute 41.6 million UAH, or 27.7%); 2) a subvention for the implementation of projects within the framework of the Emergency Credit Program for the restoration of Ukraine (approved in the amount of 500 million UAH; the Cabinet of Ministers did not distribute 320.3 million UAH, or 64.1%); 3) a subvention for the implementation of activities aimed at social and economic development of certain territories (approved in the amount of 4,756.6 million UAH; the Cabinet of Ministers did not distribute 2,567.7 million UAH, or 54%); and, 4) a subvention for payment of monetary compensation for the housing due to certain categories of persons as defined by the Law of Ukraine “On the Status of War Veterans and Guarantees of Their Social Protection” who need improvements of their living conditions.

In addition to this, at the moment, the Cabinet of Ministers has not distributed the following transfers to local budgets:

54 April – June, 2019

x stabilisation subsidy grant (203.9 million UAH); x subvention for activities to support the territories affected by an armed conflict in eastern Ukraine (34 million UAH); x subvention for the setting up and repairs of existing sports facilities at secondary schools of all levels (150 million UAH); x subvention for implementation of environmental protection activities at communally-owned facilities (579.7 million UAH); x subvention for the implementation of cross-border cooperation projects (10 million UAH); x subvention for opening new sport palaces, construction and repair work of existing ones and completion of the construction/reconstruction of sport facilities started in the previous period (200 million UAH); x subvention for the construction of multifunctional playgrounds for sport games (200 million UAH); and, x subvention for the construction of new sport facilities and 50 and 25-meter swimming pools, reconstruction and capital repairs of existing ones (200 million UAH).

At the same time, PULSE Project experts point out the lack of funds in local budgets to perform all the powers transferred to them by the state in 2016 - 2018 (state architectural and construction control, provision of additional administrative services, implementation of social programs and state guarantees, maintenance of educational and health care establishments, etc.). PULSE Project experts consider it necessary to further strengthen the financial capacity of local budgets. at the expense of: 1) preservation of existing revenue sources of local budgets; 2) increasing local government own powerful revenue base; and, 3) improvement of the system of inter-budgetary relations.

Activity 2.1. Local self-government resources are increased ensuring local government financial autonomy

2.1.1. Tools to increase own resources of local governments

Municipal Fiscal Register (MFR) At present, of the 15 CTCs that have applied for the connection to the Municipal Fiscal Registry software complex, there are only five active users: the Bibrska CTC (), Oleksandrivska CTC (Donetsk oblast), Khodorivska CTC (Lviv oblast), Bilopilska CTC ( oblast), and city of (Lviv oblast). The actual reasons for the low level of coverage of communities by the Municipal Fiscal Register software complex include: security of personal data has not been completely resolved; expensive installation of the server; and the lack of local government desire to introduce a new position of a persons in charge of filling in databases and maintaining them. In addition to this, the Center for the Development of Innovations in the framework of the EU U-LEAD with Europe Project has launched the for URBIO Platform (e-solutions for community development) for 30 CTCs with the purpose of introducing a program to keep records of municipal property called "URBIO communal property", to keep records of addresses called "URBIO address registration", and the computer program called "Register of territorial communities". In fact, the U-LEAD with Europe Project has duplicated the idea of the software complex of the Municipal Fiscal Registry. The URBIO platform is currently being actively deployed. The U-LEAD with Europe Project is actively conducting trainings on the use of its platform and is promoting it.

The Municipal Fiscal Register is a piece of software that offers information on real estate, communally- owned property, and land plots and ensures processing of these data, preservation and access to information for each individual local budget, as well as offers information on students, pre-school children, and citizens served by health care establishments, citizens who need of social assistance, and registers of privileged persons. The MFR provides an opportunity to optimise the expenditure part of local budgets and ensure better revenue flow to them, analyse the amount of benefits and the justification to provide them, and forecast the necessary amount of funds for complete implementation of the delegated mandate. The introduction of the MFR has become even more important in the context of the transition to monetisation of benefits and privileges.

Formation of the system of national social standards and norms

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During the second quarter of 2019 there were no noticeable changes in the reform of the system of national social standards and norms (further - NSSN). First of all, this is connected with the practice of social and budgetary planning in Ukraine. In particular, the increase of basic NSSN, such as minimum salaries and minimum subsistence level (as well as minimum pensions and social benefits) are planned to take place as of July 01, 2019. Accordingly, the main efforts of the PULSE Project experts in the reporting quarter were focused on elimination of financial gaps (shortage of the education and health care subventions) during the implementation of powers delegated to local governments by the state. Expert support from the PULSE Project for improving the regulatory framework of NSSN in the reporting quarter included the submission of proposals to draft regulatory and legal documents, which were prepared by the ministries of education, health care and culture.

Thus, at the beginning of April 2019, the PULSE Project reviewed the needs of local budgets for the education subvention to pay salaries to teachers. The analysis showed that in 2019, the number of communities that experience the shortage of the education subvention reduced by half as compared with the previous year. This was the result of the revision of the methodology for calculating the amount of the education subvention (CMU Resolution # 65 of February 06, 2019) and the increase in the total amount of the subvention by 13% as compared with 2018.

At the same time, the problem with the shortage of the education subvention in 2019 for cities and consolidated territorial communities has not been resolved. According to PULSE Project experts, the shortage is estimated at more than 740 million UAH, which is almost 10% of the total amount of the subvention. At the same time, local governments have to distract their own budget resources to pay salaries to teacher. In view of this problem, the AUC sent a request to the Cabinet of Ministers to revise the amount of the education subvention for 2019. In addition to this, the Cabinet of Ministers received proposals from local governments to improve the methodology for distributing the education subvention prepared developed by PULSE Project experts. To resolve the problem with the shortage of the education subvention, the Ministry of Education and Science set up an intergovernmental working group composed of AUC and PULSE Project in April, 2019.

In the reporting quarter, PULSE Project experts had to protect the interests of communities from the consequences of the Cabinet of Ministers innovations in calculating funds for the provision of primary health care introduced by CMU Resolution # 295 of March 29, 2019. This decision of the Cabinet of Ministers posed a threat of underfunded health care establishments in the amount of 360 million UAH. The AUC appealed to the Prime Minister of Ukraine on this issue. The issue remains unresolved.

In the sector of culture, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed Directive # 355-p of May 22, 2019 to introduce an action plan for the implementation of the Concept for the reform of the system of providing population with cultural services. The action plan of the Ministry of Culture took into account the proposals provided by the PULSE Project experts, in particular regarding the timeframe and tasks of state executive authorities in the course of: - defining the list, content, scope and cost value of cultural services; - defining the criteria for indicators and evaluation of the quality of cultural services; - clarifying the list of local government powers in the sector of culture taking into account the process of decentralisation; - preparing and introducing a new model of funding of the provision of cultural services; and, - taking inventory and assessing the quality of the basic network of cultural institutions. Thus, PULSE Project experts constantly and actively participated in the process of reforming NSSN, despite the extremely slow pace of work and hidden resistance from state executive authorities.

2.1.2. Dissemination of best practices and replication of experience

Collections of successes and best practices

In the reporting period, the Project published the BOOK OF SUCCESS including short stories about how decentralisation affects community life.

The collection contains 64 success stories in four thematic sections, namely: Youth and Government, Youth Initiative for Community Development, Support from Communities, and Projects for Children and Young People.

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Thanks to decentralisation, Ukrainian communities receive more powers and resources, which means more opportunities for growth and development. Thanks to the new resources and powers to dispose of them at their own discretion, local governments are able to implement changes and implement projects aimed, in particular, at involving young people to active participation in the lives of their communities. The changes taking place today is a step towards the future. After all, it is the current young who will live in the new reformed country. In this context, local governments has a great responsibility for properly defining the directions of community development taking into account the interests of all residents, in particular, young people and children. Involvement of young people in making managerial decisions, supporting young activists in their endeavours, and promoting the conditions for the implementation of their various ideas and projects is an important factor in the success on this path.

The publication will be distributed to AUC member communities and will be presented to partners and government authorities. The AUC official web site offers the electronic version of this document.

"Itinerary of Successes. Best local government practices”

During the reporting period, the Project continued the implementation of the national program for success replication study tours for local government officials, which is aimed at dissemination of best practices and successful experience in resolving local problems and innovations, particularly through the growth of local budgets in the context of fiscal decentralisation and new powers in the process of sectoral decentralisation. During period from April to July, 2019, the Project organised three study visits with the participation of 75 representatives of local governments.

Table 2.3. List of study (replication) visits

Date, venue, number of Topic Information about the event participants April 10 - 11, 2019, Experience of the Rivne City V. Khomko, City Mayor of Rivne, presented city of Rivne Council in implementing successful projects and programs aimed at energy Participants: energy efficient projects and efficiency and energy saving in the sector of 25 representatives of cities from setting up an effective energy housing and municipal utilities in the city. Earlier, 18 oblasts of Ukraine including saving system the city government had to ask residents to build city mayors, mayors of condominiums and start upgrading their consolidated territorial buildings, while nowadays, there is a long queue communities, deputy mayors, of condominium associations wishing to directors of departments of participate in urban energy efficiency programs. housing and municipal utilities, This is because the city co-finances such energy efficiency and economy, programs on conditions ranging from 10/90 up to energy managers, PULSE 50/50. Project regional consultants, S. Vasylchuk, Deputy Mayor, spoke about the Communications Coordinator of mechanism of implementation of each of the the AUC Center for programs. The maximum amount of budget funds Professional Development and channelled for the implementation of one project Communications О. Zmiyevets, is 800 thousand UAH per year. In particular, the media representatives, etc. following projects receive the funding: capital repairs, replacement and modernisation of elevators, restoration and installation of fire protection systems of high rise buildings, as well arrangement of playgrounds. M. Lukyanyk, Expert of the Office of the Energy Efficiency Fund of Ukraine in the , told about the work of the Fund and the opportunities for local governments. R. Alysychuk, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Condominium Associations of the City of Rivne, talked about the work of condominium associations in the city and their influence on community development. The event participants paid a visit to city infrastructure facilities where energy efficiency

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projects have already been implemented, in particular, modernised boiler houses that operate with the state-of-the-art equipment, School # 27, where energy efficiency projects have been, as well as become familiar with the work of the Mayak and Druzhba Condominium Associations where they learned about their role in improving energy efficiency in the city. The second day of the visit was dedicated to the experience of the city of Rivne in the sphere of energy management and energy audit. Following the event, regional mass media prepared six publications. May 22 - 23, Decentralisation as an The event started with a meeting at the city of Boryspil, instrument for improving the City Council. Boryspil City Mayor Anatoliy Participants: quality of services and Fedorchuk addressed the participants: "Thanks to 29 representatives of community well-being fiscal decentralisation, there are opportunities to communities from 23 oblasts of implement many innovative projects of Ukraine including city mayors, importance for comities. In the future, the mayors of consolidated establishment of the consolidated territorial territorial communities, deputy community will provide opportunities for the mayors, directors of structural community to develop even more rapidly." departments of city councils, Lyudmyla Mozhova, PULSE Project expert on Coordinator of Activities of the education, delivered welcoming remarks on AUC Center for Professional behalf of the AUC. She presented the mayor with Development and a quarterly collection of the "The Book of Communications A. Robsond, Successes" prepared by the AUC within the media representatives, etc. framework of the PULSE Project. City Mayor A. Fedorchuk told city representatives about city achievements, innovative projects, cooperation with investors, projects to be implemented in the city, and projects in energy preservation, education, culture, sports, and health care. Following the discussion of event participants and city managers, the study visit continued with the review of municipal facilities and educational establishments Mayor A. Fedorchuk presented the facilities in person. The Boryspil Academic Lyceum was built at the expense of the local budget – 184 million UAH. This was possible thanks to the decentralisation reform: “It is thanks to fiscal decentralisation that we have available funds,” - said the mayor. In the Lyceum, the participants met with a well- known culinary expert Yevhen Klopotenko, who presented the project called “New School Meals”. By the way, Boryspil was the first city to introduce this project in urban schools. In the course of the visit, the event participants visited the Vinochok Kindergarten where energy efficiency technologies have been introduced; the restored Kolos stadium, the Perspective City Gymnasium where the facility for climbing mountains and the school stadium have been set up. On the second day of the study visit, Mayor A. Fedorchuk presented the project called "Reconstruction of the historic Knysh cemetery in the memorial park facility. Also, the event participants visited the Boryspil municipal radio and television studio, visited the reconstructed Outpatient Clinic of the General Practice of Family Medicine # 1 (primary health care reform) and the BoryspilVodoKanal municipal water and

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sewerage company (introduction of energy efficiency and environmentally safe equipment). All the participants of the study visit were impressed by the coordinated team work of the mayor and his deputies, as well as by their sincere desire to share successful experience with representatives from all regions of Ukraine. Following the study visit, local media prepared eight publications. June 11 - 12, Implementation of energy The work of the event started with a meeting at city of Lutsk, Volyn oblast management and the Lutsk Center for Administrative Services, Participants: implementation of investment which was opened by H. Pustovit, acting city 21 representatives of projects as a way to ensure mayor and secretary of the Lutsk City Council: communities from 17 oblasts of sustainable community "Lutsk is a city for life that does everything Ukraine including city mayors, development possible to be as comfortable as possible for the mayors of consolidated townspeople and guests. It is very good that the territorial communities, deputy AUC is organising such experience exchanges, mayors, directors of structural because each community has something to learn, departments of city councils, regardless of its size or status. Finance is not Coordinator of Activities of the always a factor to help implement all our AUC Center for Professional intentions, but we are looking for every Development and opportunity to earn and invest in the community Communications A. Robsond, development, because the task of local authorities media representatives, etc. is to work for the benefit of citizens." S. Omelchuk, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Economic Policy and Director of the Investment Department, made a presentation on the topic: "Lutsk is a city open to investments". V. Homonets, Director of the Department for International Cooperation and Project Activities, presented the experience in attracting grants for the development of the city. K. Patrakiev, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Economic Policy and Director of the Energy Saving Department, told about the work in the sphere of energy saving. N. Kolenda, Deputy Director of the Department of Housing and Communal Services, matted a presentation about Energy efficiency work in residential buildings and condominium associations. O. Shevchuk, Deputy Director of Finance and Personnel Management of the Lutsk Water and Sewerage Company told about setting up funds as an effective mechanism for resolving problems of territorial communities. L. Karpyak, director of a department of Center for Administrative Services, told about the cooperation with Ukrainian and Polish centers for administrative services. Following the discussion of the participants with the city managers, the study visit continued with the overview of the municipal facilities where best practices were implemented. The event participants visited the Central Tower Condominium Association, which is engaged in the implementation of energy efficiency activities; School # 1 with thermal insulation; as well as the Lutsk castle, the zoo and the city park. These are the facilities where restoration works and improvements are underway or were completed. On the second day of the visit, the participants got acquainted with the activities of two more city condominium associations. The managers of the associations said that energy efficiency activities provided an opportunity for the residents to save

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55-60% of money on heating bills. The event participants visited Pre-school Educational Institution # 4 and Gymnasium # 21 where energy efficiency projects were implemented. In summing up, the participants noted that the Lutsk City Council made great progress towards introducing high-quality energy management and energy efficiency and this experience is very useful for other communities. Following the event, regional media prepared seven publications.

Activity 2.2. Tools for local government to access additional financial resources are in place and utilised

2.2.1. Training for local government officials During the reporting period, the Project did not conduct any activities under this component.

2.2.2. Promotion of access to resources

Funds of the National Regional Development Fund A Pulse Project Expert participates on a regular basis in meetings of the Selection Committee for the evaluation and selection of investment programs and regional development projects that can be implemented at the expense of the National Regional Development Fund. During the reporting quarter, the Project expert participated in two meetings of the Committee. Directive of the Cabinet of Ministers # 351-р of May 05, 2019 endorsed the list of 336 investment programs and regional development projects totalling 3.3 billion UAH. The PULSE Project expert provided his concurrence with the draft document. Thanks to the work of the Pulse Project expert during the review of the projects, the Committee managed to resolve controversial issues with regard to four local government projects and to attract additional 30 million UAH for local economic development.

Small Cities - Great Impressions competition of cultural and art projects In the reporting quarter, the Small Cities - Great Impressions took place. The projects of this competition will be implemented at the expense of the National Budget with co-financing from local budgets. A Pulse Project expert served as a member of the Expert Council of the Ministry of Culture for the selection of cultural and art projects. At the first phase, experts evaluated 181 projects from local governments. On July 02, 2019, the presentation of small projects will take place and on July 03 - 04, 2019 the presentation medium-sized projects will take place. The list of winning projects will be approved by the Act of the Cabinet of Ministers in consultations with the Association of Ukrainian Cities.

Subvention for infrastructure improvements in consolidated territorial communities A PULSE Project expert serves as a member of the Ministry of Regional Development selection committee to review projects for infrastructure improvements in CTCs to be finance with the subvention from the National Budget to local budgets. The PULSE Project expert contributed to the impartial and objective selection of projects submitted by CTCs for consideration by the committee. In the reporting quarter, the Ministry approved 1,239 projects submitted by 419 CTC for the total amount of 1.1 billion UAH.

Distribution of equipment for Centers for Administrative Services During the reporting period, PULSE Project experts participated in the meeting of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade working group to discuss the distribution of equipment for issuance of passports documents, registration of transportation vehicles, and issuance of driver's

60 April – June, 2019

licenses in Centers for Administrative Services. The working group distributed 105 sets of equipment for registration of passports and 50 stations for registration of vehicles and issuance of driver's licenses.

The PULSE Project organised an information fair under the title "Resources for communities" within the framework of the Dialogue Day with the Government Authorities at the Ukrainian Municipal Forum on June 18 in . 16 projects/organisations participated in the event upon the invitation of the PULSE Project, namely:

1. The Council of Europe Strengthening Democracy and Trust in the Local Level in Ukraine Project 2. The Council of Europe Promoting Citizen Participation in the Democratic Decision-Making Process in Ukraine Project 3. The Council of Europe Decentralisation and Local Self-Government Reform in Ukraine Project 4. Canadian Government PLEDDG Project 5. USAID DOBRE Project 6. Supporting Decentralisation in Ukraine Project 7. U-LEAD with Europe Project 8. DESPRO Project 9. Project of the International Organisation for Migration for Implementation of the National Mechanism for the Interaction of Entities Conducting Activities to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, Including Children, in the 10. UNICEF Vaccination Project 11. EGAP Project 12. United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine 13. UNDP 14. USAID Competitive Economy of Ukraine Project 15. USAID Policy for Ukraine’s Local Self-Governance Project (PULSE) 16. Also, the materials of the USAID Citizens in Action project were distributed

The event was attended by more than 400 participants of the Ukrainian Municipal Forum.

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Expected Result 3: Capacity of stakeholders increased

Impact of local government activities Reforms, including decentralised and sectoral reforms continue. In 2019, 782 consolidated territorial communities have direct inter-budget relations with the National Budget, in other words, they make use of the "benefits" of the decentralisation reform. On June 30, the initial local elections took place in 66 communities in 18 oblasts. The mayors and local council chairmen and members were elected in seven city, 14 town and 45 village CTCs. These 66 CTCs will have direct inter-budget relations in 2020. Currently, in Ukraine there are already 848 consolidated territorial communities. In addition to this, in 2018, 25 cities of oblast significance established consolidated communities by annexing the surrounding communities. In 2019, this process continues, and as of the end of June, eight more cities completed community consolidation procedures (now they are 33 such communities, with nine cities being in the middle of this process.

Hence, communities have received increased resources and expanded functions and powers, and now it is extremely important to learn how to use them for the benefit of their inhabitants: how to promote comfortable living conditions, improve service quality, effectively plan development and develop strategies that will increase their own revenues and attract investments. Therefore, the task of PULSE Project to train local officials, in both new small and large communities is still relevant. The goal is to increase the ability to perform new powers and functions, to provide public services. The project implements a set of various educational and professional activities for local governments, teaches how to work in the new conditions of decentralisation. It is important for both small and large communities to learn from real cases of transformations and improvements of living conditions thanks to community consolidation. In addition, the success of the new communities serves as an excellent motivation factor for public support to reforms and supportive environment for their further implementation. Taking into account the above, the collection and dissemination of success stories and best practices of local governance in the context of reforms is an important tool.

PULSE activities cover by direct reform participants, stakeholders, and sectoral reforms at all levels. These include: high level government officials, local government officials including those from consolidated territorial communities, media representatives, and the general public.

For state officials and parliamentarians, conclusions are drawn up for draft regulatory and legal documents, the problems of local governments are summarized and proposals for their solutions are provided. At the same time, PULSE provides central state executive authorities with information channels to disseminate messages on national reform policies both through communication with the audience during AUC events, and through the dissemination of their statements and speeches. For example, in the reporting quarter, the AUC distributed its position to high-level government officials and National Deputies during a number of sectoral forums, but the main activity in this sense was the Dialogue Day central government authorities where the Prime Minister was able to convey his position on the further of reform directly to community leaders.

For media, the communications component of the Project prepares and distributes press-releases and hot- press releases, and holds press events at the regional level. Numerous messages for the general public are distributed through various media, printed and online media, and social networks.

The Project continues its activities to form a favourable environment for decentralisation reforms in the regions. All AUC Regional Offices work together with PULSE regional consultants in four areas, such as local finance, legal issues, and communications. There are LED consultants working in six local development hubs and cover all oblasts. AUC Regional Offices work as think tanks for reforms in regions implementing activities to promote decentralisation reform and disseminate promote its achievements through study visits under the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component to successful communities in its own or neighbouring regions, press tours for regional media, consultations and meetings.

To provide the communications support of this activity, the Project continued the Decentralisation Marathon account in the Facebook networks. This is a reliable source of information about the life of consolidated communities and the status of implementation of the local government reform at the level of local self-

62 April – June, 2019

governance. This is the resource where communications consultants post information about community events, best practices, press tours, regional “Itinerary of Successes” tours, as well as about events taking place in communities.

The PULSE Project has been active in promoting decentralisation successes and community consolidation in the AUC web site Successes section and the Videoteque of Successes on the AUC YouTube channel.

Activity 3.1. Local governments and stakeholders are informed and capable of carrying out new roles and responsibilities flowing from decentralisation reform

3.1.1. Capacity building for local officials at the local level

Sectoral legislation drafting and advocacy laboratories

The PULSE Project in cooperation with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat holds a series of two-day practical trainings for local self-governance officials on drafting legislation. The key purpose of this activity is to give the participants practical knowledge and skills necessary for drafting legislation and the accompanying documentation, to study the principles of the legislative work and legislative process, to familiarize with the work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Parliamentary Committees. The participants are selected at the competitive basis from among the local officials of the communities-AUC members; after completing the course, they receive certificates.

During the reporting quarter, the Project conducted three laboratories with the participation of 107 local government officials. On April 04 – 05, the Project organised a sectoral legislation drafting and advocacy laboratory for local government officials working in health care. The event was attended by 30 representatives of local governments.

In the course of the first session, H. Skopnenko, Directive of the Department for Communications with Local State Authorities and Local Governments of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and Ya. Raboshuk, Deputy Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, addressed the participants with their presentations. S. Ostashko, PULSE Project health care expert, served as the moderator of the workshop.

The city representatives became familiar with the legislative procedure, rules of drafting legislative documents and peculiarities of the expert assessment of draft laws. These training topics were presented by representatives of the Main Legal Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Main Scientific and Expert Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Representatives of the Protection of the Right to Information VRU Information and Law Center presented the topic "Open data as a toolkit for legislative initiatives".

The second part of the event included a round table discussion with the participation of representatives of the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Committee on Health Care, Ministry of Health Care of Ukraine, Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Municipal Utilities of Ukraine, as well as Kyiv Center for Primary Health Care # 1. The training event participants also had an opportunity to tour the building of the Verkhovna Rada.

On the second day of the workshop, the participants visited Center for Primary Health Care # 1 and became familiar with its work. The community representatives visited the AUC Executive Office and discussed problem issues in the health care sector. Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, presented the participants with the Certificates on successful completion of the training.

On April 18-19, the Project organised a sectoral legislation drafting and advocacy laboratory for local government officials working in the sector of local government staff and organisational issues. The event brought together 37 representatives of municipalities. In the course of the first session, Ya. Raboshuk, the Deputy Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, and O. Mykryukova, Director of the Methodological Department of the Office of Communications with Local State Authorities and Local Governments matted their presentations to the audience. V. Parkhomenko, Expert of the AUC Center for Analysis and Legislation Drafting, served as the moderator of the workshop.

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The staff members of the Main Legal Department of the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine familiarised the training event participants with the legislative procedure and rules for designing legislative documents. Specialists of the Main Scientific and Expert Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine spoke about the peculiarities of expert assessment of draft legislation. Representatives of the Protection of the Right to Information VRU Information and Law Center presented the topic "Open data as a toolkit for legislative initiatives".

The second part of the event included a round table discussion with the participation of representatives of the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Governance, Ministry of Regional Development and the National Agency for Civil Service of Ukraine. The participants discussed key aspects of reforms the system of professional development of civil servants, local government officials and local council members, as well as legislative framework for direct participation of citizens in resolving local issues and statutory rule-making. At the end of the first day of the training event participants also had an opportunity to tour the building of the Verkhovna Rada.

On the second day the participants became familiar with the work of the Secretariat of the Kyiv City Council, visited the Association of Ukrainian Cities, and received certificates of successful completion of the training.

On May 23 - 24, the Project organised a sectoral legislation drafting and advocacy laboratory for local government officials working in the sector of public education. The event brought together 40 representatives of local governments. The participants were representatives of Association of Ukrainian Cities member communities working in the sector of education management. L. Mozhova, PULSE Project expert on education, served as the moderator of the training event.

H. Skopnenko, Directive of the Department for Communications with Local State Authorities and Local Governments of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, opened the event.

The staff members of the Main Legal Department of the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine familiarised the training event participants with the legislative procedure and rules for designing legislative documents. Specialists of the Main Scientific and Expert Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine spoke about the peculiarities of expert assessment of draft legislation. Representatives of the Protection of the Right to Information VRU Information and Law Center presented the topic "Open data as a toolkit for legislative initiatives".

The second part of the event included a round table discussion on education management with the participation of representatives of the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Committee on Science and Education, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Municipal Utilities, and Association of Ukrainian Cities.

At the end of the first day of the workshop the training event participants also had an opportunity to tour the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

On the second day, the representatives of the AUC member communities learned about the work of the Inclusive Resource Center of the Darnytskyi District of the city of Kyiv.

At the end of the workshop, I. Parasyuk, Director of the PULSE Project, presented the participants with certificates on the successful completion of the workshop in the premises of the Association of Ukrainian Cities.

Regional legislation application laboratories in AUC ROs

Regional legislation application laboratories are one-day training events for local government officials conducted by PULSE in AUC Regional Offices. The purpose of these events is to study and receive clarifications on new provisions in laws and current legislation, as well as to provide opportunities for experience exchange.

64 April – June, 2019

During the Project implementation period of October 2018 - September 2019, PULSE has planned to conduct up to five laboratories in each AUC Regional Office.

The list of topics was put together based on the findings of the monitoring of the training needs conducted by AUC ROs in 2018.

In April – June, 2019, the Project conducted 27 legislation application laboratories with the participation of 540 local government officials including 183 males and 357 females.

Table 3.1. List of regional legislation application laboratories

Date, venue and participants Topic Information about the event April 05, 2019 Provision of administrative The training event moderator provided an Volyn AUC RO services at the local level and overview the legislation on the provision of city of Lutsk ways to improve their quality administrative services, described the requirements for the organizational aspects of Participants: deputy village, town administrative services in consolidated and city mayors, CTC mayors, and territorial communities and experience in directors and specialists of technical resolving problem issues with opening Centers departments. for Administrative Services in the CTC, and described the ways to improve the quality of administrative services. The participants learned about the standards and requirements for opening and running centers for the provision of administrative services. April 09, 2019 Preparation and implementation The training event moderator described the Kyiv AUC RO of infrastructure improvements main requirements of legislation regulating city of Kyiv and investment promotion investment promotion, informed about the projects at the expense of peculiarities of the preparation and the Participants: deputy village, town, subventions from the National procedure for submitting projects that could be CTC mayors, and directors and Budget to local budgets, grant realised at the expense of the National Regional specialists of departments for funds, loans, and funds of the Development Fund and at the expense of the economy and investment National Regional subvention from the National Budget to local promotion. Development Fund budgets for infrastructure improvements in CTCs, focused the attention on opportunities for local governments raise funds from other sources for project implementation. The Kalytayanska and Velykodymerska CTCs shared their experience in preparing and implementing investment promotion projects. April 10, 2019 Preparation of local budgets, The training event moderator introduced the Kirovograd AUC RO ways to increase revenues and main innovations and changes in the budget city of the tax base of local budgets, process of 2019 - 2020, informed about the interaction of local main changes in the was collections from local Participants: deputy village, town governments with financial and taxes and fees are credited to local budgets, and city mayors and directors and tax authorities provided proposals and identified the main ways specialists of departments of to increase revenues to local budgets, informed finance. about changes in the application of the performance program budgeting in the budget process, and spoke about the peculiarities the interaction of local governments with financial and tax authorities. April 11, 2019 Modern instruments for The training event moderator spoke about the Zhytomyr AUC RO community economic key principles and approaches in planning local city of Zhytomyr development. Promotion of economic development, about the peculiarities entrepreneurship and of strategic planning of local economic Participants: village, town and city development of territories development, informed about the concept and mayors, their deputies, and objectives of marketing of territories, directors of departments and instruments to increase investment directorates for economic attractiveness of territories, promoting the development. favourable business climate, and establishing a dialogue between government and business community.

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The Olevsk, Korosten and Novohrad-Volynskyi communities shared their experience in preparing successful community development strategies. April 11, 2019 Preparation and implementation The training event moderator spoke about the Cherkasy AUC RO of infrastructure improvements investment legislation, the regulatory and city of Cherkasy and investment promotion legislative framework to use the subvention for projects at the expense of infrastructure improvements in CTCs, Participants: village, town and city subventions from the National submission procedure, content and general mayors, their deputies, CTC Budget to local budgets, grant characteristics of project applications, and mayors, and directors and funds, loans, and funds of the presented the peculiarities of the preparation specialists of technical directorates National Regional and presentation of investment projects that can and departments. Development Fund be implemented at the expense of the National Regional Development Fund. The participants exchanged their experience in preparing and submitting project applications and working in effective project teams. April 12, 2019 Reforms in the sector of The training event moderator introduced the Zaporizzhya AUC RO education. New Ukrainian main changes in the legislation governing the city of Zaporizzhya School. Development of education sector, regulatory and legislative inclusive education framework for the implementation of the Participants: deputy city, town and concept of the New Ukrainian School and village mayors and directors of inclusive education, described the peculiarities departments of education. of providing education services in the context of the New Ukrainian School, emphasised the importance of creating a modern educational environment, and familiarised the audience with the peculiarities of activities of inclusive resource centers. April 12, 2019 Reforms in the sector of The training event moderator spoke about the Dnipropetrovsk AUC RO education. New Ukrainian main changes in the legislation governing the city of Dnipro School. Development of education sector, provided an overview the inclusive education current status of the implementation of the Participants: city and town mayors, concept of the New Ukrainian School, CTC mayors, and directors and introduced the procedure for setting up inclusive specialists of departments of resource centers and their tasks and functions, education. and focused on the issues of distribution of the education subvention from the National Budget in the Dnipropetrovsk region to provide state support to people with special educational needs in 2017 – 2019. April 15, 2019 Reforms in the sector of The training event moderator described the Vinnytsya AUC RO education. New Ukrainian legislative framework for the implementation of city of Vinnytsya School. Development of the concept of the New Ukrainian School, about inclusive education two city educational programs called Participants: technical deputy "Education development program for the period village, town and city mayors and till 2020 and "Vinnytsya - a children and youth directors of departments of friendly city", presented the experience of the education. Vinnytsya City Council Education Department in improving the professional level of teachers in the context of the New the Ukrainian School. The participants became familiar with the system of inclusive education in Comprehensive Secondary School # 33. April 15, 2019 Reforms in the sector of The training event moderator described the Luhansk AUC RO education. New Ukrainian legislative framework for promoting the city of Severodonetsk School. Development of educational space in the context of reforms, inclusive education informed about the current status of the Participants: technical deputy city preparation of educational establishments in the and town mayors and directors of oblast for the implementation of the concept of departments of education. the New Ukrainian School, focused on the peculiarities of promoting the inclusive educational space and inclusive resource centers and classes, and emphasised the importance of increasing the professional level of teachers

66 April – June, 2019

working with children with special educational needs. April 24, 2019 Legal aspects of privatisation of The training event moderator familiarised the Chernivtsi AUC RO communally-owned property participants with new provisions of the city of Chernivtsi legislation governing privatisation, reviewed the peculiarities of the privatisation of communally- Participants: city and town mayors, owned property, spoke about the mechanisms, their deputies, and specialists of timeframe, procedure and methods of technical departments. privatisation, peculiarities of preparing documentation for the privatisation procedure, focused the attention on accountability for violation of the legislation on privatisation of property, and familiarised the audience with the peculiarities of selling property through e- auctions. Representatives of the Prozorro.Продажі State Enterprise presented the advantages of working with the Prozorro.Продажі system. April 24, 2019 Application of modern The training event moderator introduced the Poltava AUC RO information technologies in the Concept of e-governance development in city of activities of local governments. Ukraine, presented the work of the information E-governance as a factor of systems of such municipal companies as City Participants: village, town and city openness of government Registration - Community Register and mayors and specialists of technical institutions to the community Accounting and Control System, Analyst, and departments. introduced the requirements for data formats for electronic document turnover. The participants learned hands-on skills in using electronic document turnover systems, electronic digital signature and electronic accounting in the office work. April 25, 2019 Reforms in the sphere of The training event moderator familiarised the Kharkiv AUC RO housing and municipal utilities. audience with the main amendments in the city of Kharkiv Hands-on aspects of application legislation governing the sector of housing and of new provisions of the municipal utilities, spoke about the rights and Participants: village, town and city legislation and legislative responsibilities of building managers, providers mayors and CTC mayors and framework for the work of and consumers of housing and municipal utility starostas. condominium associations services, procedure for concluding contracts between providers and consumers of services, and told about the responsibility for the failure to provide poor quality housing and municipal utility services. The director of the management company of the city of Zmiyiv shared his experience in servicing the apartment blocks of the city. May 14, 2019 Application local economic The training event spoke about the strategy for Ternopil AUC RO development instruments for the development of small and medium-sized city of Ternopil effective community enterprises in the Ternopil oblast for the period development of 2016 – 2020 and focused on the need to Participants: village, town and city develop and implement a community mayors, their deputies, CTC development strategy, to promote investment mayors, and directors of specialised image of the community and its investment directorates/departments. opportunities, discuss the opportunities for attracting international grant programs, participation in sectoral policy programs, and establishment of cooperation between government and businesses. Representatives of the Prozorro.Продажі State Enterprise presented the advantages of working with the Prozorro.Продажі system. May 15, 2019 Mechanisms for improving the The training event moderator provided an Ivano-Frankivsk AUC RO efficiency of land resource overview of amendments in the legislation city of Ivano-Frankivsk management in territorial governing land management, told about the communities. Problem issues in procedure for transferring state-owned Participants: village, town and city the sphere of land relations agricultural land plots to the communal mayors and specialists of land ownership of consolidated territorial

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management and legal departments. communities, emphasised the importance of land inventory, conclusion of land lease agreements, implementation of auctions, and shared experience in resolving disputes and cooperation with the management of the Office of the State Land Cadastre of the General Directorate of the State Land Cadastre in the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast. May 16, 2019 Green tourism as a factor of The training event moderator familiarized the Luhansk AUC RO effective local economic audience with organisational and legislative town of Bilovodsk development principles for arranging the provision of services in the sphere of rural green tourism, Participants: city and town mayors, certification issues and successful examples of CTC mayors, and heads and running green tourism farms in Ukraine, specialists of directorates and emphasised the need to develop tourism as a departments for economy. strategy for the development of CTCs, and spoke about the need to prepare a tourist profile of communities and tourist route profiles. The manager of the Tourist Association of Luhansk Oblast NGO presented the idea of Greenways green tourism routes. May 17, 2019 Organisational and legislative The training event moderator described the Rivne AUC RO framework for the interaction of legislative framework for the interaction of local city of Rivne local governments with governments with citizens, focused the attention citizens. Citizen participation in on the formation and methodology of the public Participants: city and town mayors, making financial decisions. budget, importance of citizen participation in CTC mayors, and directors and Public budget making financial decisions, introduced a specialists of technical departments. comprehensive methodology for assessing the transparency and openness of local governments activities, and presented models of visualisation of open budgets, instructions for writing programs, and the Budget on the Map and Municipal Enterprise modules. Representatives of the Prozorro.Продажі State Enterprise presented the advantages of working with the Prozorro.Продажі system. May 22, 2019 Preparation and implementation The training event moderator introduced the Chernihiv AUC RO of infrastructure improvements legislative framework for the development and city of Chernihiv and investment promotion implementation of infrastructure and investment projects at the expense of promotion projects at the expense of subvention Participants: village, town and city subventions from the National from the National Budget to local budgets, grant mayors, CTC mayors, and directors Budget to local budgets, grant funding, loans and funds of the National of departments and directorates funds, loans, and funds of the Regional Development Fund, provided an departments of village, town and National Regional overview of the participation of representatives city councils. Development Fund of territorial communities in competitions, grant programs and projects that were implemented in 2018 and, on a separate note, focused on the programs that will be implemented in 2019. The participants learned about the benefits of working with the Prozzoro.Продажі system. May 29, 2019 Mechanisms for improving the The training event moderator provided an Cherkasy AUC RO efficiency of land resource overview the legislative framework governing city of Cherkasy management in territorial land management relations, emphasised the communities. Problem issues in peculiarities of establishing local rates of land Participants: village, town and city the sphere of land relations tax and fees, told about the procedure for mayors, village CTC mayors, their approving a decision on rates and privileges on deputies, and directors and the land tax, inventory of land parcels, recent specialists of technical departments trends in contractual work in the sphere of land and directorates. relations and provided examples court decisions with regard to resolving land lease disputes. Representatives of the Prozorro.Продажі presented the advantages of working with the Prozorro.Продажі system. June 05, 2019 Legal aspects of privatisation of The training event moderator described the Mykolaiv AUC RO communally-owned property regulatory framework for communally-owned

68 April – June, 2019

city of Mykolaiv property management, focused the attention on the transfer of communally-owned property to Participants: city and town mayors, state ownership, key issues of privatisation of directors and specialists of communal property, the procedure for the sale departments on communally-owned of small privatisation property items through the property management, and legal electronic auction, and described ways to consultants. improve the management of communally- owned property in territorial communities and control over its effective use. Representatives of the Prozorro.Продажі State Enterprise presented the advantages of working with the Prozorro.Продажі system. June 10, 2019 Effective instruments for The training event moderator introduced the Volyn AUC RO economic development of the tools for the promotion of business city of Lutsk community opportunities in the community and peculiarities of attracting investors to the community, Participants: village, town and city provided an overview the model structure of the mayors, CTC mayors, and directors community investment profile as a key of departments and directorates for document of the community, emphasised the economy. importance of having cluster models in preparing development projects involving local businesses, and told about the technology for submitting an application for participation in the competition of sectoral reform projects and preparation and implementation of projects at the expense of grant funds. June 12, 2019 Innovations in urban planning The training event moderator described the Zakarpattya AUC RO and architecture, their hands-on legislative innovations in urban development city of Uzhgorod application in the context of and architecture, emphasised the responsibility decentralisation for violation of urban development legislation, Participants: city and town mayors, introduced the procedure for granting their deputies, and directors and permission for the development of urban specialists of departments of urban development documentation at the local level, development and architecture. procedure for its preparation and approval, emphasised the importance of promoting accessibility for persons with disabilities and low-mobility groups to social, engineering and transport infrastructure. June 12, 2019 Preservation of historical and The training event moderator told about the Ivano-Frankivsk AUC RO cultural heritage as an basic legislation regulating the protection of city of Burshtyn instrument of economic cultural heritage, emphasised the importance of development of the community compiling a map of historical buildings and Participants: village, town and city natural landscapes with the purpose of their mayors and directors of technical inventory and timely restoration, departments. implementation of ideas in the programs for asocial, economic and cultural development, provided an example of the Vyhoda narrow- gauge train system that promotes revitalisation of local businesses and dissemination of a positive image of the Vyhoda community. June 21, 2019 Modern financial instruments of The training event moderator described the Dnipropetrovsk AUC RO economic development of the legislative framework governing local economic city of Dnipro community development of the territorial community, provided a general description and hands-on Participants: village, town and city examples of applying modern financial mayors, their deputies, and instruments for local economic development, directors of technical departments such as: promotion of foreign direct and directorates. investments, international technical assistance, grants, loans, and provided a brief overview of the structure and peculiarities of preparing grant applications, main rules for its submission and common mistakes. June 25, 2019 Preparation of local budgets, The training event moderator provided an Lviv AUC RO ways to increase revenues and overview of the budget legislation, familiarised city of Lviv the tax base of local budgets, with the main directions of the budget policy,

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interaction of local peculiarities of preparing estimates for draft Participants: city mayors and governments with financial and budgets, budget process calendar, calculations directors and specialists of tax authorities of forecasts of volumes of inter-budget departments for economy and transfers, methodology of their definition, finance. hands-on aspects of servicing the development budget in banking institutions, and with the deposit and credit policy of local governments. Representatives of the Prozorro.Продажі State Enterprise presented the advantages of working with the Prozorro.Продажі system. June 25, 2019 Reforms in the sector of The training event moderator provided an Cherkassy AUC RO education. New Ukrainian overview of amendments in the legislation city of Cherkasy School. Development of governing the sector of education, familiarized inclusive education the audience with the activities of the Cherkasy Participants: village, town and city City Council Education Department in 2017 – CTC mayors, their deputies, and 2029 to introduce the Concept of the New directors and specialists of technical Ukrainian School in the city, focused the departments and directorates. attention on the optimisation of the network of educational establishments of local communities to provide the necessary conditions for obtaining high-quality comprehensive secondary education, and shared the experience of the Cherkasy regional inclusive resource center. June 25, 2019 Strategic planning for local The training event moderator provided an Zaporizzhya AUC RO economic development: overview the main tools of local economic city of Zaporizzhya methodology and best practices development, described the process of for communities preparation of local economic development Participants: deputy city and strategies, their types, focused the attention on village mayors and directors and the peculiarities of the analysis of the specialists of departments of community development in the course of the economic development. preparation of the strategy, described best examples of community development strategies of the oblast, and presented the experience of the city of Zaporizzhya in preparing its writing development strategy and main ways of attracting investments for economic development of the community. On June 26, 2019 Inventory of land resources as The training event moderator provided an Khmelnytskyi AUC RO an instrument of economic overview of the legislation on the regulation of city of Khmelnytskyi development of the community land inventory, urban planning documentation and land management projects, reviewed the Participants: deputy village, town consequences of violations of land legislation, and city mayors and directors of familiarized the audience with the main departments for economy. economic and social benefits of land inventory, provided hands-on recommendations on the maintenance of the State Land Cadastre to attract investments and explained the peculiarities of electronic data recording.

Distance learning courses

In the reporting quarter, the PULSE Project continued the implementation of five distance learning courses prepared in previous years on the Prometheus platform (www.prometheus.org.ua). The training materials and the opportunity to receive a certificate are constantly available, so the number of students has increased.

The Gender Based Budgeting for Community Development course Total number of users: 7,809 (as of April, 2019 -7,666). Certificates generated: 5,916 (75.8%) (as of April, 2019, 5,851 (76.32%)).

The Training of Local Council Members of Consolidated Territorial Communities course Total number of users: 1,106 (as of April, 2019 – 959). Certificates generated: 153 (13.5%) (as of April, 2019 – 129 (13.5%).

70 April – June, 2019

The Preparation and Implementation of Community Development Projects course Total number of users: 5,094 (as of April, 2019 – 4,870). Certificates generated: 815 (16.0%) (as of April, 2019 - 757 (15.54%)).

The Effective Budget Process in Local Governments course Total number of users: 3,183 (as of April, 2019 – 3,063). Certificates generated: 923 (29.0%) (as of April, 2019 - 897 (29.29%)).

The Establishing Local Economic Development Institutions course Total number of users: 2,253 (as of April, 2019 – 2,199). Certificates generated: 264 (11.7%) (as of April, 2019 - 256 (11.64%)).

The statistics show a very high rate of certification, especially the gender budgeting course. Indeed, globally, a good indicator of the effectiveness of on-line courses is considered to be 7% of students who received their certificates of the total number of those who registered for the course.

All in all, from the very beginning of the courses, 19,445 persons took the training, while 8,071 persons received their certificates.

3.1.2. Training of local government officials of the oblast and rayon levels

In the reporting quarter, working within the framework of the Sub-Agreement # 153 of October 01, 2018 between the Ukrainian Association of Rayon and Oblast Councils (UAROC) and the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC), UAROC organised and conducted 11 expert workshops for representatives of rayon and oblast councils on the following topic:

 “Business planning of activities of public health care establishments belonging to the local government ownership" - four expert workshops (cities of Kharkiv, Poltava, Kyiv, and Dnipro)  "Innovative opportunities for economic growth of regions" - one expert workshop (city of Chernihiv);  "Vision for the development of the sector of public education in the context of reforms of the system of government" - three expert workshops (cities of Lviv, Ternopil, and Kyiv);  “Local government reform and formation of effective territorial arrangement of government institutions in Ukraine" - two expert workshops (cities of Kyiv and Svyatohirsk); and,  "Informing the public about the activities local councils – as a way to understanding and openness" - two expert workshops (cities of Rivne and Lviv).

389 persons including 218 males and 171 females participated in these events.

These one-day professional workshops were organised for representatives of rayon and oblast councils and interested local government officials. The purpose of these events is to promote decentralisation and sectoral reforms.

In the course of the workshops, the participants discussed the regulatory and legislative framework and specific issues related to local government technical areas, and reviewed the dynamics of the establishment of consolidated territorial communities in Ukraine, as well as the issues and peculiarities of the implementation of reforms in Ukraine. Of problem issues that need to be resolve, the participants mentioned the following:

Topic: "Business planning of activities of public health care establishments belonging to the local government ownership”

 most of health care establishments at the primary and secondary level currently do not have the necessary material and technical base including the equipment that would fully meet the requirements that customers (health care establishments) have for the manufacturers;  own local government resources are considerably limited, as because of poor budget local governments received unjustified additional expenditure categories;

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 insufficient funding from the health care subvention to cover such expenditures as salaries for employees in the health care sector, cost of drugs, and medical treatment.

Topic: "Vision for the development of the sector of public education in the context of reforms of the system of government”  cooperation between rayon councils and CTCs in terms of co-financing of individual projects and educational establishments;  reforming the teacher attestation system with the involvement of citizens in this process;  competitive selection of educational establishments to serve as hub schools and selection of their school headmasters;  financing of educational institutions;  peculiarities of inclusive education;  introduction of school performance evaluation by the National Service of Quality of Education; and,  taking into account the results of external testing in the course of teacher performance evaluation.

Topic: "Local government reform and formation of effective territorial arrangement of government institutions in Ukraine”  approaches to determe the territorial basis for the formation of state executive authorities on the oblast territory;  ability to move at the government proposed pace (600 days);  pre-term parliamentary elections have a negative effect on the feasibility of the proposed plans and may discredit the reform;  accountability of newly formed local government bodies;  there are no solutions for optimal distribution of powers between local government bodies and state executive authorities; and,  the legislation does not specify the entity to establish and liquidate rayon state administrations.

Topic: "Informing the public about the activities local councils – as a way to understanding and openness”

 difficulties in ensuring public awareness about local government activities;  citizens are slow in following new ideas;  lack of proper Internet coverage on certain territories;  insufficient level of interaction between government authorities and citizens; and,  failure to take into account various categories of population (elderly people, young people, etc.), each requiring a separate approach.

Topic: "Innovative opportunities for economic growth of regions”

 inactive oblast level authorities in ensuring the economic development of the region;  tourism potential is not used sufficiently;  poorly developed business support infrastructure;  lack of incentives to a business by young people, and obtain professional experience;  the system of certification of agricultural products for market participants in accordance with the EU requirements is not properly introduced;  no system for the comprehensive promotion of a tourist product and information network for tourists;  low level of business co-operation;  insufficient level of foreign direct investment and lack of active promotion of investment proposals of the Kherson region;  significant degree of depreciation of fixed assets of companies with insufficient investments for their renovation and modernisation; and,  insufficient level of in-depth processing of agricultural products, dominance of the raw material component in the structure of exports of companies.

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The expert workshops once again confirmed the urgent need for establishing communication and connections between local government representatives and leading experts with regard to the implementation of the local government reform and reform of the territorial arrangement of government institutions in Ukraine.

The information and knowledge obtained during these expert workshops will help the participants make their daily work more professional and efficient, as well as will contribute to the proper understanding and interpretation of decentralisation processes taking place in Ukraine.

3.1.3. Training NGO representatives and librarians as communicators of reforms

The IREX/PULSE team actively supported teams in pilot libraries and non-governmental organisations, worked with reform support groups (RSGs), which included participants who joined the Project during two years, provided constant mentoring support to library press clubs, as well as conducted training events for new team members from communities within the framework of the geography of the PULSE Project (Third Cohort Grants).

Supporting teams from community members in the course of implementation of citizen engagement activities

The implementation of grants for information activities on decentralisation and citizen engagement started in April, 2019. x the PULSE Project team issued 70 first tranches to pilot participating teams from 70 consolidated territorial communities or communities on their way to consolidation for information activities about public participation; x the PULSE Project team monitored compliance with the requirements of the first stage of financing and, subject to the findings, issued the second tranche of funding to the selected teams (37 tranches were paid); x During the reporting period, the IREX/PULSE team provided continuous support and technical assistance to local communities for program activities. For example, Street consultation point, Nemishayeve, Kyiv oblast, the IREX/PULSE team provided advice on how to April 20, 2019 conduct events, assisted in preparation of documents and networking with AUC regional consultants and representatives of local authorities and media; x 3,570 participants of Project information activities (72% females and 28% males, 42% of young people (under 30)) representing different groups and public institutions participated in 196 information events organised by IREX grantees. PULSE Project regional consultants (31) also participated in these events, who shared their expert opinion on the process of the decentralisation reform and provided answers to questions from communities; x grantees of the PULSE Project attracted 113 media representatives to citizen information events; x the IREX team monitored 19 information events on public participation. In addition to supporting the implementation of activities and monitoring their quality, these monitoring visits provided an opportunity to identify candidates for the Reform Support Group (RSG); and, x the PULSE Project team prepared, produced and disseminated packages of the most necessary information materials whose content was prepared with close consultations with Project participants.

Examples of events conducted: x Skype conference with the participation of two communities and PULSE Project consultants. The purpose of such format is provide experience exchange and consulting with PULSE Project experts. During the reporting quarter, several PULSE Project grantees used this event format. These included: the Volochyska Community () and the town of Ivano-Frankove (Lviv oblast), Hrunska Community and Trostyanetska Community (), Hrytsivska and Sudylkivska Communities (Khmelnytskyi oblast), Horodotska and Satanivska Communities (Khmelnytskyi oblast), Barska Community (Vinnitsa oblast) and Chemerovetska Community (Khmelnytskyi oblast) and others. The dialogue format through Skype conferencing is very effective, because it saves time and resources. The participants of such

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dialogue usually provide a brief overview of their communities, share questions and work experience, and make arrangement on further collaboration and sharing of experience.

x Exchange of experience between PULSE Project participants. Grantors of the PULSE Project from the Kostryzhivka Community (Chernivtsi oblast) organised a meeting dedicated to the establishment of a communication center in the premises of a local library. Given their limited experience, they asked IREX to help organise this meeting. The IREX team introduced them to representatives of the Shyroke Community (Zaporizzhya oblast) who managed to reorganise preemies of their house of culture to provide high-quality administrative and educational services to their inhabitants. This room also serves as a free space for work and recreation of community members. As a result, the Kostryzhivka Community developed a project proposal and submitted it for consideration to local authorities.

x Study visits to neighbouring communities. An experience exchange took place in the Trostyanetska Community (Sumy oblast). The community kindly received 15 young representatives from the neighbouring Hrunska CTC. It was an interesting and useful meeting whose participants learned about the achievements of the Trostyanetska CTC, cooperation with the local authorities, interesting festivals, and events for young people. Such meetings motivate participants to stay leave in their homeland and take steps for their community development and take care of their own future.

Study visit, Hrunskaya community, Sumy oblast, x Coffee with the community mayor. During the June 12, 2019 reporting quarter, the IREX team was pleased to note the increased popularity of informal meetings between community leaders and citizens. During such meetings, representatives of government authorities report on current successes and issues in communities, while local residents can share their ideas and thoughts "here and now." Such events took place in the Trostyanetska Community (Sumy oblast), Nemyrivska Community (Vinnitsa oblast), Bilovodska Community (Luhansk oblast), and others. Coffee with Mayor of the Trostyanetska CTC, city of Trostyanets, Sumy oblast, May x Street consultation points. This is the most popular and most productive format for informing citizens about the process of decentralisation in Ukraine. IREX grantees go to crowded places and demonstrate information materials developed by the PULSE Project. Whenever necessary, they provide advice and explain all complicated concepts. This format is very effective, because it is specifically aimed at the target audience of the project: those who have never heard of the local government reform and never searched for information to learn more. Street consultation points were held in Severodonetsk (Luhansk region), Smolyhiv (Volyn oblast), Berdychiv (Zhytomyr oblast), Semenivka and Chernihiv (Zaporizzhya oblast), and (Zakarpattya oblast). All in all, 21 events took place in the reporting period in the format of street consultation points.

Strengthening capacity of Reform Support Groups (RSGs) in pilot communities ● RSG members were invited to actively participate in the webinar on the topic: "Health care in CTCs" organised by the PULSE Project. The live coverage was provided by the PULSE My Community - My Welfare YouTube channel on May 28, 2019; ● IREX began filming training video modules that will be placed on the MOODLE platform with the technical support of the Ostroh Academy. The team is currently in the process of discussions with AUC a pilot video concept. The video will be dedicated to the development of private entrepreneurship in CTCs, which was identified as a priority topic during coordination meetings of RSGs last year.

Cross-cutting activities

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x IREX provided weekly electronic news releases to newsgroups, representatives of library press clubs, grantees from non-governmental organizations, and libraries of all cohorts (1,094 recipients). As a result of such information dissemination, residents in communities shared the main news about decentralisation, participated in training events, forums, and sent applications to other organisations to support their communities; x The IREX/PULSE Facebook group, which numbers 760 participants including librarians, NGO representatives, RSG activists, and received regular updates throughout the reporting period. Now, it serves as a platform for exchanging information for all participants about legislative amendments, and materials related to the decentralisation process in Ukraine.

Activity 3.2. Communication and outreach of decentralisation reform is enhanced

3.2.1. Creating communication channels for central authorities outreach and messaging on decentralisation reform progress in various sectors

PULSE Project offers for representatives of central government agencies communication channels to deliver important messages about the position, plans and intentions of the government in implementation of the decentralisation reform. It is very important to have this position delivered and heard by the proper audience ranging from media representatives to local government officials and citizens.

Representatives of central government authorities who are at the head of the management structure set the tone and direction of reforms in the country. At the same time, they do not always actively use the available dialogue tools to ensure citizen participation in decision making. To fill this gap, the PULSE Project provided representatives of central government authorities with communication channels to disseminate important messages about the reform.

To disseminate information about decentralisation and Project activities, PULSE uses a traditional tool - news feeds on the site. The PULSE communication group continuously monitors the information space and publishes on the site important information about the activities of state authorities, state decisions in the areas of reform targeted at the Project. PULSE distributes strategic messages, quotes and video comments from high-level government officials through a site that traditionally serves as a source of unbiased and up-to-date information on local self-government in Ukraine.

Various events conducted by the PULSE Project with the participation of the government authorities serve as communications channels to deliver ‘firsthand’ massages about the government policy. The Project activities are mass media representatives and invited to them. Thus, high level government officials have a good opportunity to talk to journalists, provide comments to the media, and explain the position of a government agency and government policy. In addition to this, the materials about PULSE events that were prepared by media representatives and PULSE informational products were used to further disseminate messages from central state executive authorities.

The Dialogue Day with Government Authorities has become the traditional effective channel for the dissemination of central government policy “first hand” messages. The event took place within the framework of the 15th Ukrainian Municipal Forum, which took place in Odessa on June 18 - 20. Prime Minister V. Groisman was given an opportunity to address the audience of about 400 community mayors and representatives of local governments, international partners of the AUC and to express his own views on the achievements of the decentralisation reform and the further of this reform, as well as about the necessary steps to ensure the reform irreversibility. Representatives of ministries and government agencies departments also had an opportunity to speak to local leaders. The mass media actively covered the Forum and, as a result, the general public was informed about the common position of the state executive authorities and local governments about the local government reform and reform of territorial arrangement of government institutions, improvement of the legislative framework, resolving of specific problems to ensure sustainability of territorial communities. Following the 15th Ukrainian Municipal Forum, media prepared approximately 100 publications.

Sectoral forums on local economic development and education, which took place during the reporting period, also became important information channels for disseminating the position of central authorities and direct communication with community representatives.

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3.2.2. Strategic messaging through different media

One of the key aspects in strategic message delivery is the coverage of all spectrum of media outlets, because they are targeted a various types of audiences. The PULSE Project, being aware of modern communication trends, makes good use of social networks, which are popular, first of all, with young people (aged of 14 to 35 years old). It is of critical importance to explain to young people the benefits of decentralisation, because in the nearest future they will be the audience to use its benefits and will live in the environment with the principles laid today.

Also, the PULSE Project communications experts focus their efforts on disseminating messages through Internet-based media currently on the rise in Ukraine with their target audiences constantly growing (currently, 26 million of Ukrainians use the Internet) and with good chances to become the leading media outlet in the future. This is the global tendency, which becoming more and more pronounced in Ukraine by the day. One should mention that on-line resources remain the most responsive and interactive media tool.

At the same time, television enjoys the widest coverage and, as a rule, remains the most effective tool in disseminating the needed information. PULSE having taken this fact into consideration ensures the participation of Project experts in the air of a wide spectrum of TV Channels delivering the messages representing the core Project ideas to their audiences (first of all, medium-aged citizens).

Thanks to the printed media, PULSE has an opportunity to draw the attention of elderly persons to the necessity of implementing the local government reform. The Project focuses the attention on the irreversible nature and necessity of such changes and progressive impact of the reform on the life of country residents.

To ensure the permanent access of media representatives to the most up-to-date information about the implementation of the decentralisation reform, the Project web-site offers news headlines, which are updated on a daily basis. This is a so-called information bank, which serves very often as a source of information for journalists and local government representatives. In addition, The Project web-site offers press releases and press announcements for media.

At the central level:

Events and products for media Press news The Project prepares and disseminates regular press news to media representatives and, in case this is needed, does the express information delivery within the framework of the “Hot Topic” component. The mailing list put together during the previous years and is being constantly updated and verified. Therefore, as of today, the total number of items in PULSE mailing lists constitutes reaches more than 300.

During the reporting period, the reporting period, the Project disseminated ten press news releases and seven “hot news” updates: April 12 - representatives of local communities categorically reject the initiative to return powers in setting tariffs for individual heat supply companies to the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission. April 24 - the AUC insists that communities are provided with funds for paying salaries to doctors and treatment of patients with diabetes mellitus and renal failure. May 02 - V. Klychko, Chairman of the AUC, appealed to the Prime Minister with a request to prevent the abolishment of excise tax on retail sales of tobacco products. May 10 - The Association of Ukrainian Cities calls on the parliament to support decentralisation draft law communities need. June 12 - Thanks to the cooperation of the AUC with the Cabinet of Ministers, smaller cities will receive car for the transportation of persons with disabilities. June 24 - the AUC categorically rejects the Cabinet of Ministers decisions to resolve issues in the sector of housing and municipal utilities at the expense of local budgets and comes up with suggestion on how to improve the condition of the municipal heat distribution companies. June 27 - populist decisions of the Government pose of threaten of suspension of heat supply in cities.

Coverage of the AUC position and PULSE activities in media

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TV coverage During the reporting quarter, the PULSE Project activities were covered by 15 TV programs on the following channels: April 03 - V. Udovychenko, a legal consultant of the Kyiv AUC Regional Office gave an interview to the 112 TV Channel about fight against corruption and the prospects for the preparation and implementation of anti-corruption legislation. April 11 - O. Harnyk, PULSE Project expert on housing and municipal utilities, provided comments to the UA:Sumy TV Channel about future prospects of funding the modernisation and reconstruction of sewerage networks in cities. April 11 - L. Mozhova, AUC education expert, provided comments to the T1 TV Channel (Ternopil) about the results of the meeting of the AUC Public Education Professional Group, which took place in Ternopil on April 11 - 12. April 11 – V. Khomko, Mayor of Rivne, provided comments to the TRC RHYTHM TV and Radio Company (Rivne) about the study tour organised within the framework of the “Itinerary of Successes” nation-wide exchange study tour Project component. April 11 - L. Mozhova, AUC education expert, provided comments to the UA:Ternopil TV Channel about problem issues of local governments in the sector of public education. April 12 - L. Mozhova, AUC education expert, provided comments to the TV4 TV Channel (Ternopil) on ways to resolve problems of local governments in the sector of public education and about the results of the meeting of the AUC Public Educational Professional Group held in Ternopil on April 11 - 12. April 25 – Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, provided video comments to the Construction Standard magazine where he talked about the European Award International Construction Competition and its importance for communities, because it promotes the architecture of Ukrainian cities at the national and international levels, as well as experience exchange. May 03 - V. Udovychenko, a legal consultant of the Kyiv AUC Regional Office, participated in the Voice of the People program on the 112 TV Channels where he spoke with the program anchors about the instruments to unite Ukrainians and the need to strengthen the national idea. May 06 – Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, participated in an on-line press conference at the UNIAN News Agency where he substantiated the need to increase funding within the framework of the Cabinet of Ministers Warm Loans Program by reallocating funds from the National Energy Efficiency Fund. May 13 - O. Harnyk, PULSE Project expert on housing and municipal utilities, participated in the Main Topic program on the TRK Ukraina TV Channel and discussed the innovations in the legislation on housing and municipal utility services. May 28 - O. Harnyk, PULSE Project expert on housing and municipal utilities, provided comments to the UA:Sumy TV Channel about the probability of raising tariffs for services of local water and sewerage companies. May 28 - the TRS Boryspil TV Channel featured a story about a study tour organised visit within the framework of the “Itinerary of Successes” nation-wide exchange study tour Project component on the topic: "Decentralisation as a tool for improving the quality of services and community well-being" with comments from the PULSE Project expert on education. June 12 - the web site of UkrInform News Agency published video on the results of the round table discussion on the forecast of budget revenues of the city of Kyiv in 2020 and the upcoming two budget periods with participation of T. Palyichuk, PULSE Project expert on budget issues. June 13 - the Sphere-TV.Lutsk TV Channel featured a video story about the study tour to Lutsk organised within the framework of the “Itinerary of Successes” nation-wide exchange study tour Project component and about the city successes in implementing energy management and investment promotion projects. June 19 - Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the AUC, participated in the LIVE STUDIO program on the Channel 7 TV Channel (Odesa) where he gave an interview about the Dialogue Day with government authorities, activities of the AUC to support decentralisation, and the implementation of the local government reform.

Radio coverage

One radio program featured PULSE Project activities: June 24 - Yu. Yamkova, Regional Legal Consultant of the Odessa AUC Regional Office, participated in a program on the UA: Ukrainian Radio. Odessa Radio Station and spoke about the prospects for the continuation of the local government reform in Ukraine, potential reduction of staff of rayon and oblast state administrations, consolidation of rayons, and the impact of these changes on community residents.

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Print and electronic media

Interviews and comments of PULSE experts on decentralisation reforms were published in more than 25 publications in printed media and Internet resources.

Media outlets actively covered the press conference of Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, organised during his working visit to Ivano-Frankivsk. During the press conference he told local journalists about the issues of the local government reform, its future prospects and the need to amend the Constitution of Ukraine with regard to decentralisation. The relevant materials were published in such Ivano-Frankivsk media as Halychyna, Versions, and Breeze. In addition to this, AUC Executive Director O. Slobozhan provided comments to the Construction Standard magazine where he told about the importance of the participation of Ukrainian cities in international competition, in particular, in construction, since such events serve as good promotion for communities and the opportunity to get incentives for raising the standards of urban planning. The Economic Truth, one of the most influential economic publications of Ukraine, published an article with an overview of proposals prepared by PULSE Project experts to the draft budget declaration. Journalist H. Kalachova, the author of the article, gave a very high evaluation of the prepared proposals and explained their contents to the readers, as well as spoke about whether they would take into account by the Cabinet of Ministers.

An interview of I. Parasyuk, Director of the PULSE Project, for the Education Institute Web Platform about the establishment of metropolitan areas drew the attention of many readers. The interview provided a detailed experience of Asian countries and spoke about the possibilities of applying it in Ukraine. In his comments to the Informer, an Odessa media source, I. Parasyuk provided more details about the prospects of establishment of metropolitan cities in Ukraine.

All in all, during the reporting quarter, there were more than 442 mentioning of the AUC in media and on web sites of central government authorities and city councils. Those who wrote about the PULSE Project included such authoritative media as the «Урядовий кур’єр» [government courier] and «Голос України» [voice of Ukraine] newspapers; UA:Суспільне [UA:public], “Економічна правда” [economic truth], UNIAN, UkrInform, Decentralisation, ZIK, Country.ua, RBK-Ukraine, ”NewTimes”, Ukrainian National News, «Українська правда» [Ukrainian truth], “Економічна правда” [economic truth], ZIK, «Сегодня» [today], «Khreschatyk», «Gazeta.ua», Reporter, «Народне слово» [people’s word] Internet publications; and others.

Media about the 15th Ukrainian Municipal Forum: The work of the Forum was highlighted in 14 stories plots on TV channels and in 53 publications in print media and Internet media. All in all, PULSE Project communication experts recorded approximately 100 mentionings about the 15th Ukrainian Municipal Forum in media and on web sites of state executive authorities and city councils. In particular, media outlets such as UNIAN, UkrInform, «Урядовий кур’єр» [government courier], «Голос України» [voice of Ukraine], Cabinet of Ministers Portal, Decentralisation, ZIK, Hlavkom and others were the top media to speak about the Forum.

TV broadcasts June 18, 2019 – the Academy TV Channel; June 18, 19, and 21, 2019 – the Channel 7 TV Channel; June 18, 2019 – the Odessa Courier TV Channel; June 18, 2019 – the First City TV Channel; June 18 and 21, 2019 – the «Редакція» [editor’s office] TV Channel; June 18, 2019 – the HLAS TV Channel; June 18 and 20, 2019 – the Reporter TV Channel; June 18, 2019 – the «Південна хвиля» [southern wave] TV Channel; June 20, 2019 – the Media Inform TV Channel; and, June 24, 2019 – the TIS TV TV Channel

Live interviews in the studio June 19, 2019 – a LIVE STUDIO program on the Channel 7 TV Channel of Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities.

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Website and social networks AUC web site The AUC web-site www.auc.org.ua is an important instrument to disseminate information to the public at large about the activities of the AUC and, in particular, about PULSE. This Internet resource has become a recognised source of trustworthy information about the current status of local self-governance and professional and specialised expert information in the sphere of local self-governance, decentralisation reforms and consolidation of territorial communities.

The AUC web page, which was completely upgraded and modernised in September, 2016, is being regularly updated with new content. According to the feedback from users, it is convenient and informative. In particular, they say that the user interface of the site by intuition is easy to understand, consistent and logical. While going to the main page a visitor sees the news highlights (10 publications), 5 top news, and interactive sections including the Decentralisation: Sectoral Dialogue section, and the tools that, which reflect the multi- faceted activities of the Project.

The Top News section catches the eye at once. It places most important, “hot” and significant news of the Project. The news highlights on the main page publish information about the following: - preparation of draft laws by PULSE experts and support for their approval in the parliament; - cooperation with parliamentary Committees (providing recommendations, proposals, comments, support or lack of support for draft legislation); - appeals to high level central government authorities on key problem issues local governments face and support to decentralisation reforms; - participation of PULSE experts in public events and comments to media; - coverage of PULSE activities and events; - coverage of activities and events conducted by PULSE regional consultants; - news from consolidated territorial communities and their success stories; - providing clarifications to local governments prepared by AUC Center for Analysis and Legislation Drafting; - coverage of main news and developments in the sphere of local self-governance and decentralisation, opportunities for development and capacity building of city representatives, etc.

The site offers one important section called “Decentralisation”, which offers a link to one of the 10 thematic platforms. The platforms are dedicated to the areas of sectoral reforms where the PULSE Project works. With the help of the platforms users can learn about the details of the sectoral reforms, provide an opportunity for an interactive dialogue (the “Discuss with a Colleague” tool) and get expert assistance and consultations (the “Put a Question to the Expert” tool). Visitors can submit a proposal to the current legislation or suggest a new draft law in the “Laws” section. The interactive “Fair of Ideas” and “E- Petitions” sections are also available on the web site. The special section "Successes" tells the visitor about the achievements and achievements that the community has received as a result of fiscal decentralisation and community consolidation. The publications are placed in the section of the library. The site also keeps video and photo galleries.

The AUC web-site is a recognised professional, analytical and impartial source of information about local self-governance in Ukraine, decentralisation and sectoral reforms, problems and achievements of cities.

The Project web-site also offers links to social media pages (Face book and YouTube), which are also used by the Project to disseminate information about decentralisation and local government reform and important Project news.

The Facebook account The Face book account of the Association serves as a powerful tool to popularise the topic of the local government reform and progress in decentralisation and to inform about AUC and PULSE activities. Social network pages are one of important information dissemination channels allowing not only to present events, products, materials, expert information and news, but also to receive feedback from the Internet audience and to disseminate “hot news”.

The growth in the number of new “readers” was particularly active after Project events and publication of its new products. Over the reporting period, the number of Facebook page subscribers increased from 7,864 to 8,197.

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User coverage per calendar day is an important AUC popularity indicator in the Facebook. This indicator varied within the range of 3 thousand. The biggest coverage was given to the publications dedicated to the cooperation of the AUC with the Cabinet of Ministers and Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and outcomes of the meeting of the AUC Board, as well as to the publication new PULSE materials and AUC experts. The highest indicators for the audience reach during the reporting period related to the following publications:

April 01 - 5,697 users, the Project published the post under the title: "The most important thing today is to preserve the achievements of decentralisation and prevent the curtailment of reforms" - O. Slobozhan, speaking on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the approval of the Concept of the Local Government Reform.

April 05 - 8,970 users, the Project published the post under the title: "The AUC sent a request to the Prime Minister to oblige State Fiscal Service to comply with the legislation on reporting to communities the accrued and paid taxes".

April 10 - 11,238 users, the Project published the post under the title: «The Small Cities - Great Impressions project starts. This year the Cabinet of Ministers provided 50 million UAH".

May 02 - 6,234 users, the Project published the post under the title: "V. Klychko, Chairman of the AUC, appealed to the Prime Minister with a request to prevent the abolishment of the excise tax on retail sales of tobacco products”.

May 03 - 7,840 users, the Project published the post under the title: "The AUC presents the regular edition of the ITINERARY OF SUCCESSES Local Government Best Practices publication”.

May 10 - 8,556 users, the Project published the post under the title: "The Association of Ukrainian Cities calls on the parliament to support the decentralisation legislation communities need".

June 12 - 5,007 users, the Project published the post under the title: "Thanks to the cooperation of the AUC with the Cabinet of Ministers, smaller cities will receive cars for the transportation of persons with disabilities".

June 18 - 5,021 users, the Project published the post under the title: "V. Klychko, Chairman of the AUC, speaking at the XV Ukrainian Municipal Forum: “Today's event is a special one. Its topic - "Local government reform is leaping over an abyss!»

June 27 - 8,508 users, the Project published the post under the title: "Populist decision of the Cabinet of Ministers pose a threat of suspending heat supply to cities".

June 29 - 5,301, the Project published the post under the title: "Youth and the community: changes for the sake of the future - the AUC presents a collection of materials dedicated to the Youth Day".

In general, the overall coverage of AUC posts in Facebook over the reporting quarter constituted 127.5 thousand, which speaks about both the increasing audience trust to the activities and news of the AUC and PULSE and to their live interest to topics related to decentralisation in general. On average, during the reporting period, the posts of the Association were re-published 88 times.

The YouTube account

The AUC YouTube account has become a widely used source of news and information about the status of local self-governance and about the progress of decentralisation reforms. Over the reporting period, the Project provided regular updates to the “Association in Media” and “AUC Activities” sections offering important videos from media. PULSE communications experts monitor information, organise meetings of PULSE experts and TV journalists, involve experts to thematic programs, and upload the corresponding videos in the “Comments of AUC Experts” and “Decentralisation and Reform Successes” sections.

During the reporting period, the Decentralisation and Reform Successes library received new video materials. Thanks to regional communications and reform success replication consultants who monitor local

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media, this section receives collections of video news about decentralisation and best practices in communities on a weekly basis. On one hand, such a collection of videos is a good and continuously updated source of information about the progress of reforms, and serves as an incentive for communities to use the experience of their peers, join reforms in the country, and enter into community consolidation to receive more resources and powers, on the other.

In addition to this, the Project constantly updated the "Comments of AUC Experts" section. This collection of videos contains comments from PULSE Project experts and consultants on key issues of decentralisation and implementation of sectoral reforms. The video library provides an opportunity to see how the position of the AUC is reflected in regional and national mass media. The visitors can also receive explanations on issues of the implementation of the reform.

Also, on the AUC YouTube Channel, the Project set up a new video library called "Itinerary of Successes". This is a series of videos on the about study visits organised within the framework of the “Itinerary of Successes” nation-wide exchange study tour Project component, which is being implemented within PULSE. In this section, the visitors can see how the community's successful experience is disseminated and how "Itinerary of Successes" local government best practices are replicated.

The AUC YouTube account has 10 video sections: “PULSE of Reforms TV Project” (a video library of the PULSE of Reforms Project component with more than 200 video stories about successes communities have achieved thanks to decentralisation and PULSE Project activities), “Decentralisation and Reform Successes” (a collections of videos sorted by oblast), “Comments of AUC Experts”, “AUC Activities”, “Association in the Media”, "Itinerary of Successes", as well as previous collections of videos, such as “Decentralisation Marathon”, “Social Videos”, “Your Government” (selection of programs within the framework of the joint Project with the Channel 5 TV Channel), and “CITY-minded Ukraine” (selection of programs within the framework of the joint Project with the TONIS and UT-1 TV Channels).

Approximately 300 network users have subscribed to AUC video news.

PULSE Project publications Table 3.2. Project publications

Publication title Targeted audience Description The “AUC Herald” AUC member # 162, April – May, 2019. printed monthly communities, AUC PULSE of Reforms section features the materials publication partner organisations about the work of AUC Professional Groups, which are preparing legislative proposals on sectoral reforms. # 163, June, 2019: This is special issue dedicated to the 15th Ukrainian Municipal Forum whose framework included the Dialogue Day with the Government Authorities organised by the PULSE Project. The “Pulse of Reforms” International This is a bi-lingual weekly publication presenting electronic digest organisations, PULSE activities over the past week and international technical featuring Project and local government news. assistance Projects, and This publication consists of two main chapters: Project partners “PULSE in action” and “Decentralisation and Sectoral Reforms: News and Developments”. The materials for this publication are prepared on Fridays, with the mailing taking place early next week. The mailing list is constantly updated. For example, the Ukrainian version is sent to AUC partners, representatives of the state executive and parliamentary Committees AUC experts work with, while the English version is sent to more than 90 emails of international organisations.

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During the reporting period, the Project prepared 13 digests. BOOK OF SUCCESS AUC member- This collection of materials is dedicated to the "YOUTH AND THE communities and AUC Youth Day and offers 64 short stories about how COMMUNITY: partner organisations decentralisation affects lives of young people in CHANGES FOR THE communities. The publication will be useful to SAKE OF THE local government officials, media community FUTURE" and all those interested in working with young people in communities. This collection is disseminated during various PULSE Project events and is posted on the AUC website.

At the local level:

• Press clubs and media events in libraries

x IREX, PULSE Project sub-partner, organised 12 meetings between representatives of four types of media (TV, Internet publication, print media, and radio) communities, AUC regional consultants, and librarians of press clubs from 12 oblasts of Ukraine; ● IREX continued to provide its mentor support to all 24 library press clubs in Ukraine, bringing in professional mentors for this purpose; ● IREX involved the third mentor to better highlight the successes of communities in media, as well as to provide more coverage of meetings between representatives of four types of media (TV, Internet publication, print media, and radio), Training for the Press Club of Libraries, Odessa, April communities, regional PULSE Project 16, 2019 Тренінг для прес-клубу бібліотек, Одеса, consultants, and librarians who participate in the 16 і 2019 Project; and, ● the IREX team recorded about 73 cases of coverage of the decentralisation process in Ukraine by mass media as a result of the work of library press clubs.

Dissemination of successes on local TV and radio stations and through printed media

Collecting and disseminating success stories of the local government reform and decentralisation is one of the key areas of activities of PULSE. This type of activity, as well as promoting such publications in regional media is supported by PULSE communications consultants. They work in oblasts and have contacts with local media. Thanks to such cooperation, regional print media and local TV channels radio stations prepare and disseminate informational products about reform successes and public expert materials and position of PULSE Project experts. Their main focus is community successes due to fiscal decentralisation, current status and future prospects of reforms in the oblast, and highlighting successes of consolidated territorial communities in implementation of infrastructure improvements and development projects.

Regional communications consultants ensure the regular presence of AUC Central Office experts, regional executive directors, budget, legal and local economic development consultants, as well as mayors of consolidated territorial communities in top rating local media (radio, TV, print and Internet media) and often they themselves participate in radio and TV interviews and write articles, short sketches and prepare video stories. Local media widely use analytical materials, reviews, info graphics and comments of PULSE consultants as credible, professional and authoritative views. Based on the results of the PULSE Project activities (meetings of AUC Professional Groups and regional policy dialogue platforms), PULSE regional communications consultants convene press conferences and hold briefings with the participation of local opinion leaders, experts, CTC mayors, and directors and consultants of AUC Regional Offices to discuss issues of regional importance. PULSE Project regional communications consultants consult local media in regions about good communities in oblasts to visit to make video materials.

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PULSE regional consultants have learned the skills in making videos and putting them together. Earlier, PULSE purchased a set of video equipment and conducted the professional training for them. Now, the consultants are able to go out to communities, conduct PULSE Project regional events, on-site consultations, informational meetings, take interviews and comments from CTC mayors and sectoral experts and based on this prepare video stories on their own. The topics include: implementation of the decentralisation reform in the oblast, success stories from communities, participation of the AUC and PULSE Project in the implementation of reforms, etc. These stories are branded with the PULSE logo and serve as the handy material for dissemination through local TV channels, which are happy to broadcast them. In the reporting period, communications consultants produced 130 video materials.

The reformatted and unified web pages of all AUC Regional Offices in the Facebook social network became an important source of disseminating community successes. These web pages serve as a valuable source of information about regional news, which are used by community mayors, local government officials and local media.

Thanks to the active work of its regional communications consultants, PULSE Project has a reliable channel to disseminate in regional media not only the successes, but also specific issues and specific messages about the important news in the local government sector and the position and role of the Association in these reform processes.

During the reporting quarter with the assistance of regional consultants, regional and local TV channels aired 463 TV programs including and about the success of communities and broadcasts with the participation of PULSE Project experts. In addition, local print and Internet media prepared 1,668 publications.

Press tours for regional media During the reporting period, the Project continued to organise press tours to successful communities for local and regional media. The main purpose of the tours is to popularise the experience of successful consolidated territorial communities in local and regional media.

During these site-visits, the journalists will have a chance to become familiar and actually see the successful outcomes of the formation consolidated territorial communities and have personal conversations with community leadership and citizens. Following the press tours, the journalists prepare publications in local media about successes of decentralisation.

In April – June, 2019, the Project conducted 34 press tours in all AUC Regional Offices, with the participation of 585 representatives of local and regional media.

Activity 3.3. Increased public awareness of reform successes and trust in local governments

3.3.1. Role of Offices for Reforms: supporting reform implementation and establishment of capable communities

Work of reform offices. Seminars and workshops, work with consultants In the reporting quarter, AUC Reform Offices continued to work in all AUC Regional Offices. They included groups of experts consisting of regional consultants on legal, budget and communications issues. The Project also continued the work of six local economic development consultants, each of them being responsible for three - five oblasts. The main tasks of the regional legal, budget and local economic development consultants included: x legal assistance to representatives of local governments; x motivation and support for consolidation of territorial communities; and, x conducting of information, public awareness, training and consultative activities for local governments, representatives of other interested parties, and informing media about reforms.

The priority task for local economic development consultants was to support local economic development in five territorial communities (with the total of 30 territorial communities from all 24 oblasts). The attention of these consultants was focused on the following:

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- preparation of community development strategies, implementation plan, and monitoring system for implementation of strategies; - preparation of the community profile and investment promotion profiles; - preparation of project applications for participation in the competition to select the projects to be financed at the expense of the National Budget and grants form international technical assistance projects; - introduction of the Municipal Fiscal Register; - preparation of tools for supporting small and medium-sized businesses and establishing communication between local governments and the business community; and, - promotion of local business products in foreign markets, presentations of city potential for a wider range of potential partners

The main tasks of the regional communications consultants included: x gathering success stories and best practices from territorial communities in implementing decentralisation reform and increasing own local budget resources; x providing comments and interviewing of experts and regional public opinion leaders for media, highlighting activities of AUC Regional Offices and experts who provide AUC services in the relevant oblast, and coverage of the process of the reform in the oblast in open sources; and, x dissemination of news related to local government and information about the activities of PULSE Project and AUC. The AUC Central Office for Decentralisation Reform provided coordination services to all regional offices, salaries and financial support for events, and provided timely consultative support.

With the support from Reform Offices, the Project achieved the following results in the reporting quarter: x 2,479 consultations were provided on legal and financial issues and local economic development, which contributed to the process of consolidation of territorial communities; x 28 study visits were conducted within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component with the participation of 575 representatives of local governments that started the process of community consolidation; x 34 press tours were organised in AUC Regional Offices with the participation of 585 representatives of local and regional mass media, which contributed to the popularisation of the reform and its success x 28 territorial communities of cities of oblast significance were established comprising 246 territorial communities; x on June 30, 2019, elections took place in 66 consolidated territorial communities (seven city, 16 town, and 43 village CTCs) in 19 oblasts. These 66 CTCs comprised 333 local councils (city - nine, town - 17, village - 317), with 34 CTCs waiting for the CEC to schedule the initial elections; x seven territorial communities of cities of oblast significance annexed 12 village communities; and, x working within the framework of the Incubator of Sustainable Communities, local economic development consultants developed models for economic development of 12 pilot CTCs to effectively realise their competitive advantages to increase their own resources, added value and open additional jobs.

Regional communications consultants work in all regions of Ukraine, in close cooperation with the Central Office for the Decentralisation Reform in the AUC. The Communications Coordinator of the Office and the PULSE Project Communications Group adjust the focus of their activities on a regular basis, communicate key messages, hot news and the position of PULSE and AUC to them. During the reporting period, the consultants received recommendations about marking and branding of PULSE Project products and activities, about how to improve accounts of AUC Regional Offices in the Facebook, and how to share best practices and interesting press initiatives.

The Facebook account called “PULSE: Decentralisation Marathon” opened in 2015 when community consolidation processes started became an effective communication tool for supporting PULSE activity at the regional level. This is the place where regional communications consultants post their information about Project event in communities, successful practices, press tours, regional success stories, as well as events and key changes in communities. The consultants are regularly provided with instructions on the preparation of the messages and the formulation of texts of publications on the page. In the reporting period, communications consultants placed posted almost 1,650 publications on the PULSE: Decentralisation Marathon page.

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Monitoring, collecting and writing success stories and best community practices and feeding them into the national success story database set up within the framework of the Project remains one of the important aspects of the work of communications consultants. During the reporting period, the consultants were also advised how to improve this work, as well as the form and content of such materials. The national success story database serves as a source of information for further preparation of publications about community successes and as a source of information for the "Successes" section on the AUC web site, as well as is used for cooperation with central and regional media.

The AUC Central Office for the Implementation of the Decentralisation Reform worked closely with regional communications consultants to disseminate across Ukraine not only successes, but also “hot” messages about new legislation, local government news, and position and role of the Association in these processes. In particular, the following messages were effectively and efficiently disseminated across Ukraine during the reporting period: "The populist decision of the Cabinet of Ministers poses a threat to heat supply in cities”, "The AUC categorically rejects the Cabinet of Ministers decision to improve the conditions of municipal heat supply companies at the expense of local budgets and comes up with suggestions on how to improve the condition of these companies", "15th Ukrainian Municipal Forum in Odessa. Dialogue Day with Government Authorities", "Thanks to the cooperation between the AUC and the Cabinet of Ministers, smaller cities will receive cars for the transportation of persons with disabilities”, "The Association of Ukrainian Cities calls on the parliament to support decentralisation draft laws communities need".

"Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component

The “Itinerary of Successes” exchange study tour Project component represent one day events to expose local government officials of the communities who have started consolidation processes to best practices of already consolidated territorial communities. The communities to visit within the framework of the program were determined on the basis of the monitoring conducted by AUC Regional Offices. In April – June, 2019, the Project organised 28 study tours in AUC regional offices with the participation of 575 representatives of local self-government bodies.

3.3.2. Spotting and promotion of reform successes

During the reporting period, the Project regularly updated the national base of successes and best practices from communities. This interactive tool provides the opportunity to track the progress of decentralisation reform nationwide, compare different oblasts, and distribute the best initiatives and municipal practices. The materials to the database are provided by regional communications consultants who monitor the communities and provide information by key areas of sectoral decentralisation. The national base is a handy source of information for preparation of materials for other PULSE communication channels, such as the web site, social networks, cooperation with media, TV Project, as well as organisation of Project events to cover success of reforms, namely: “Itinerary of Successes” replication visits and press tours. During the reporting period, the project prepared and entered into the database 155 success stories and 93 best practices.

The success stories highlight the benefits and gains of communities they have received due to fiscal decentralisation and consolidation, emphasize the increased financial resources of local budgets through decentralisation reforms, possibilities of attracting National Budget subventions and international donor funds, etc. During the reporting period, there were a large number of success stories dealing with modernisation of infrastructure in the sectors of energy efficiency, housing and municipal utilities, education and health care, implementation of community security instruments, and the development of local economies. Best practices illustrate how communities (those already consolidated and those not yet consolidated) implement mechanisms to effectively use the increased local budget, in particular the implementation of sustainable development projects, organisational aspects of the provision of administrative services, social protection, health care, and public education.

3.3.3. Promotion of reform successes

A significant segment of the PULSE communication component, which is now being implemented in cooperation with 24 regional communications consultants, is to increase the PULSE impact on stimulating and motivating further consolidation of territorial communities. The communities, which consolidate receive

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the resources and authority cities of oblast significance have and can use them for their own needs in order to improve the quality of services at the local level. The most effective tool in this work is to convince all participants in the process, and, most importantly, citizens that decentralisation will have a positive impact on the quality of their lives and to demonstrate the real successful examples of consolidated communities.

Hennadiy Zubko, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Municipal Utilities of Ukraine, on his Facebook page said that in the first half of the year, local budget revenues increase to almost 129 billion UAH (+ UAH 21.1 billion, or +19.6%) as compared with the same period in 2018. The personal income tax revenues came in the amount of 77.2 billion UAH (+13.9 billion USD, or + 22.0%) as compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. Collections from the land tax constituted 15.6 billion UAH (or + 23.4%). The actual collections from the flat tax constituted 16.2 billion UAH (or + 22.8%). The actual collection from the tax on real estate constituted 2.1 billion UAH (or + 32.3%).

The reform provided communities with an opportunity to engage in long-term planning and implement projects that improve the quality of infrastructure and manage their own revenues. Community budget funds budgets consist of mainly go to repairs of roads, public transportation, repair and equipping of educational and health care establishments, opening of centers for administrative services, housing construction, children and sports playgrounds, cultural centers, inclusive resource centers, restoration of the water supply networks, etc. People feel all this in their own lives and this is the best illustration of the success of decentralisation, fiscal decentralisation, and consolidation of territorial communities.

PULSE uses real stories to stimulate and motivate territorial communities for further consolidation, promote reform, convince all participants of the decentralisation process, and most importantly citizens, that decentralisation brings high quality of life and better access to services. It is important to inform hesitant communities and the media community of obvious benefits of decentralisation and community consolidation, about the real facts of effectiveness of these reforms for communities and their inhabitants. During the reporting period, PULSE Project disseminated success with its own means involving media and its regional consultants.

Every day, in a special Successes section the AUC website publishes news about best practices and successful community achievements thanks to decentralisation within the framework of the information campaign called "No Day without Success". During the reporting period, the Project prepared and published 77 articles in the section.

PULSE Project also tracks and distributes video materials about the successes of the reform. The official account in the YouTube network has a separate channel where one can view all videos about successes and implementation of the reform in regions collected and grouped by oblast. During the reporting period, the Project consultants provided new materials to the Decentralisation and Successes of Reforms Video Library, as well as collected information with the help of media monitoring. The video stories footage highlights the advantages and benefits of communities they have gained thanks to consolidation. It should be mentioned that many activities and products of the PULSE Project are dedicated to the promotion of successes of the reform, such as “Itinerary of Successes” (regional and national) exchange study tours, the PULSE OF REFORMS TV Project, the “BOOK OF SUCCESS” publication and success stories, the SUCCESSES section on the AUC website, the Decentralisation Marathon Facebook account, as well as publications in local media by PULSE regional communications consultants.

3.3.4. Involvement of young people and teenagers in decentralisation

Working with young people is an important segment of promoting a supportive environment for the implementation of decentralisation and sectoral reforms. After all, the formation of public support depends, to a large extent, on the level of support from young people, since it is the nowadays young and teenage Ukrainians will have to live in a reformed country. Therefore, they must clearly understand where the state is heading to, what decentralisation means, and what the main principles of innovations are. This topic has always been and remains the top priority. Thus, during the previous years, the Project conducted special events including, for example, the Weekly School of Decentralisation for Young People (2016) and on-line local government tutorials (2016 and 2017, in cooperation with the America House in Kyiv). In 2018, the PULSE Project conducted a competition of best practices and ideas under the title: "Child Friendly City",

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which led to the publication and distribution of the collection of best practices, while the winners had an opportunity to attend a training seminar.

During the reporting quarter, the Project the collection under the title «YOUTH AND COMMUNITY: CHANGES FOR THE SAKE OF THE FUTURE» dedicated to the Youth Day in Ukraine. This thematic compilation of SUCCESS STORIES offers 64 short stories about how decentralisation influences the life of young people in territorial communities. The materials are grouped in four sections: Young People and Government, Youth Initiatives for Community Development, Projects for Children and Youth.

Examples of working with young people published in the compilation will be useful for local governments and inspire young people to participate in the lives of their communities.

The information about experience of communities in working with young people was collected with the assistance of Project regional communications consultants.

The Project will continue working in this sphere and the next edition of the BOOK OF SUCCESS will include a section on working with young people in communities.

The work of communities in implementing the youth policy in the reporting quarter is also covered in Section 4 of this report in the SUCCESS STORIES.

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Chapter 3. IMPLEMENTATION PROBLEMS AND BARRIERS

The systemic problem issues in the local government sectors and relevant legislative and executive bodies that were indicated in the previous (annual report), generally did not significantly change.

The latent crisis with the parliamentary majority and the Verkhovna Rada in general continues to be a significant problem. Lack of understanding of their responsibility on the part of National Deputies and poor discipline often derails voting does because of a simple lack of National Deputies in the session hall.

The active preparation for pre-term parliamentary elections in July, 2019 has started. We expect that the electoral processes will result in a complete suspension of the approval of the legislation aimed at implementing the local government reform.

Problems with Project activities As in the previous quarter, the main problem was inadequate remuneration of the PULSE Project staff as compared with the current market. Project staff have wages that are significantly lower than those in other international technical assistance projects and in departments of line ministries. The difference constitutes 1.5 - 2.5 times.

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Section 4. HISTORY OF SUCCESS

PULSE PROJECT SUCCESSES

LOCAL BUDGETS

The financial burden on local budgets to establish devices for remote gas meter data transmission in public sector institutions and organizations decreased Thanks to the active position of the AUC and PULSE Project, NEURC abolished the requirement for non- residential consumers of the natural gas with a consumption level of less than 10 thousand m3 per year where common gas meters have been were installed to equip these meters with means of remote data transmission (NEURC Resolution # 750 of May 17, 2019). Thus, local governments received an opportunity to significantly save local budget funds, which would have been directed to the preparation of technical documentation, procurement and installation of equipment, as well as its servicing in public sector institutions, organisations and municipal utilities in territorial communities.

PULSE prevented the transfer of more than 110.8 million UAH of expenditure categories from the National Budget to local budgets to finance state obligations to reimburse the value of property to deportees The Cabinet of Ministers endorsed Resolution # 357 of April 24, 2019 with a suggestion to reimburse the value of property to deportees or their heirs at the expense of the National Budget, budget of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and local government budgets. The previous version of the draft resolution envisioned such compensation solely at the expense of the budget of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and local government budgets. Thanks to the work of PULSE Project experts, the compensation will also take place at the expense of the National Budget. Thus, the Project prevented the transfer of the additional burden of expenditure categories in the amount of 110.8 million UAH to budgets of villages, towns and cities.

PULSE helped territorial communities to save 1 billion UAH for setting up specialised services of social and psychological counselling The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine prepared a Model Regulation on a specialised service for primary social and psychological counselling of persons who have suffered from domestic violence and/or gender-based violence (specialised service). According to the Model Regulations, the government was supposed to set up a specialised service in each administrative and territorial unit. To coordinate the preparation of the final version of the Model Regulations of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy conducted a meeting of the working group with the Ministry of Regional Development and the PULSE Project expert. Representatives of the Ministries supported the position of the PULSE Project expert and removed the provision with the requirement to establish a specialised service in each administrative and territorial unit. Since Ukraine has more than 20 thousand village, town and city populated areas, the expenditures for salaries of employees of such specialised services (given the rate of one employee minimum salary) would amount to 1 billion UAH. In the nearest future, the Cabinet of Ministers is planning to consider the Model Regulations.

The Cabinet of Ministers redistributed more than 52 million UAH of the additional subsidy in favour of cities and CTCs of the Cherkasy, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kirovohrad oblasts The AUC repeatedly drew the attention of the Cabinet of Ministers to a biased and unfair distribution between local budgets of the additional subsidy to cover the expenditure categories transferred from the National Budget to local budgets for maintenance of educational and health care establishments. During the reporting quarter, the Cabinet of Ministers redistributed more than 52 million UAH of the additional subsidy in favour of cities and CTCs in the Cherkasy, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kirovohrad oblasts.

The volume of revenues from tourist fees to local budgets increased Thanks to the new system of the tourist tax collection, local budgets received significantly higher amounts of revenues from this tax: in January – April, 2019, local budgets received tourist tax revenues in the amounts of 30.1 million UAH, which is 35.6% (or 7.9 million UAH) more as compared with the same period in 2018. In the course of the 2019 budget process and during the discussion of tourist tax amendments to the Tax Code within the "budget package of draft laws", the Cabinet of Ministers took into account PULSE Project proposals.

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PULSE contributes to increasing competence of local governments in multi-year budget planning The Association of Ukrainian Cities, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, prepared Methodological Recommendations for the Preparation and Approval of the Budget Regulations for the Budget Process at the Local Level. As a result of the joint work performed by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, on May 31, the Methodological Recommendations mentioned above were approved. This will increase the competence of local governments in multi-year budget planning.

HOUSING AND MUNICIPAL UTILITIES

PULSE proposals on optimising the process of borrowing by utility companies taken into account On June 05, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers endorsed Resolution # 561 “On Approving the Regulations and Conditions for License Holders Engaged in Commercial Activities of Generation of Heat for Transportation of Heating Energy by Backbone and Local (Distribution) Networks and Supply of Heating Energy Whose Commercial Activities Are Licensed by Oblast State Administrations and Kyiv City State Administration to Concur with Local Governments Borrowings from Foreign Countries, Banks and International Financial Organisations for Implementation of Investment Programs”. The Resolution takes into account the proposals prepared by a PULSE Project expert to optimise the process of borrowing by housing and municipal utility companies, which provides for a simplified procedure for conducting public hearings.

CONSOLIDATED COMMUNITIES

PULSE contributed to the fair distribution of the subvention for infrastructure improvements in CTCs On April 24, 2019 and on May 15, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers and the parliament respectively distributed the subvention from the National Budget to local budgets for infrastructure improvements in CTCs in the amount of 2.1 billion UAH. Thanks to the suggestions of PULSE Project experts, the distribution of funds took into account the exact number of population and area of territories and channelled the funds to territorial communities of the cities of oblast significance (24 cities) that have annexed the neighbouring communities. This ensured the complete and fair distribution of the subvention funds to local budgets.

The long-term perspective plan for the formation of community territories of the Poltava oblast takes into account the interests of local governments In the course of the elaboration of the long-term perspective plan for the formation of community territories of the Poltava Oblast, the Ministry of Regional Development took into account the position of Zavodske and Lokhvytsya City Councils. PULSE Project experts assisted the communities in persuading the Cabinet of Ministers to take into account their positions in the course of elaboration of the long-term perspective plan.

PULSE Project helps the Cabinet of Ministers to recognise the Mukachivska CTC as capable community Following its establishment on October 26, 2018 without the respective positive determination from the Zakarpattya Oblast State Administration, the Mukachivska Community was not able to take the advantages and benefits of community consolidation. The AUC and National Deputies lobbied for the inclusion of the respective provision in the Closing Provisions section of the Law of Ukraine "On the National Budget of Ukraine for 2019". By this provision, the parliament obliged the Cabinet of Ministers to recognise, within one month, the Mukachivska City Consolidated Territorial Community as capable in the composition of the territorial communities of the city of Mukachevo and the villages of Lavky, Pavshyne, Shenborn, Nyzhniy Koropets, and Nove Davydkovo, of the Mukachevo rayon of the Zakarpattya oblast. The decision on the recognition was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers committees and on June 05, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers endorsed Directive # 372-р to recognise the Mukachivska Community as capable.

LAND RESOURCES

Local governments received additional instruments for collecting land tax debts The Cabinet of Ministers endorsed # 522 Resolution of June 05, 2019 “On Introducing Amendments to the Regulation for Determining and Compensation of Losses of Land Owners Users and Land Users”, which provided additional instruments for local government to collect debts on land tax payments. The Resolution was prepared with the participation of PULSE Project experts.

SOCIAL PROTECTION

About 70 smaller cities will be able to receive cars for transportation of persons with disabilities

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The Cabinet of Ministers endorsed Resolution # 189 of March 14, 2019, which empowered cities (except for cities of oblast significance) and consolidated territorial communities to receive vehicles for transportation of persons with disabilities at the expense of the National Budget. At the same time, cities of oblast significance including those that annexed territorial communities of villages and towns were not able to receive the support from the state. Thanks to the cooperation of PULSE Project expert with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, on June 12 this year, the Cabinet of Ministers introduced amendments to Resolution # 189 and provided the opportunity for cities with a the population of up to 50 thousand to receive special cars from the state. About 70 smaller towns of Ukraine will be able to receive specially equipped cars for the transportation of persons with disabilities.

YOUTH AND CHILDREN

PULSE Project protected communal youth centers from negative aspects of state regulation of staffing level The Ministry of Youth and Sport of Ukraine has elaborated a draft Directive “On Endorsing Model Manning Schedules for the Number of Staff Working in Youth Centers”. The document envisioned that these staffing standards would be mandatory for municipal youth centers. PULSE Project experts did not support this approach. The Ministry of Youth and Sport took into account the position of the AUC. As a result, the staffing regulations endorsed by the Ministry of Youth and Sport by Directive #1648 of April 02, 2019 make these standards as a recommendation, rather than a mandatory requirement for local governments. Also, local governments received the right to introduce other positions in youth centers that are not provided for in the directive. This made it possible for approximately 300 existing youth centers to continue their work without changing their staffing standards. It is planned that each territorial community will have a youth center after the local government reform (approximately 1,500 centers).

Thanks to PULSE Project experts, the Association of Ukrainian Cities became exclusive official partner in for the Youth Capital of Ukraine Competition The PULSE Project continues to actively participate in shaping the youth policy. On April 17, the Ministry of Youth and Sport endorsed Directive # 1905 on the national Youth Capital of Ukraine competition, which stipulates that the Association of Ukrainian Cities is the only official partner in organising and conducting the event.

EDUCATION

The AUC became a member of the Cabinet of Ministers Coordination Council to reform the institutional care and upbringing of children PULSE Project continues to actively participate in the process of reform of institutional care and upbringing of children. On June 26, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers endorsed the Resolution "On the Setting up the Coordination Council on the Reform of the Institutional Care and Upbringing of Children", which included the a PULSE Project representative in the membership of this council. This council serves as an advisory entity of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine established with the purpose of coordinating the implementation of the National Strategy for the Reform of the Institutional Care and Upbringing of Children for 2017 - 2026.

PULSE Project expert became a members of the working group of the Ministry of Education and Science to improve the formula for the distribution of the education subvention A PULSE Project expert became a member of the intergovernmental working group of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to improve the formula for the distribution of the education subvention. Following the cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science last year, the Project managed to achieve significant results in increasing the local government resources. For example, the shortage of the education subvention in 2019 as compared with 2018 decreased six times. At the same time, according local governments, the shortage of the education subvention in 2019 amounts up to 740.7 million UAH, which means there is still a lot of work to be done to elaborate the formula for the calculation of the subvention.

PULSE Project helps cities to receive 21.1 million UAH for updating the material and technical base of vocational educational establishments On April 10, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers endorsed the Resolution “On Certain Issues of Using the Subvention from the National Budget to Local Budgets for Upgrading and Modernisation of Material and technical Base of Vocational Training Institutions in 2019” to distribute 50 million UAH from the Nb1 to

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oblast budgets and budgets of oblast center cities for updating the material and technical base of vocational educational establishments. The documents provides for the opening of educational and hands-on training centers for selected vocations specified at the meeting on January 17, 2019 in the Ministry with the participation of Pulse Project experts. During the meeting, the PULSE Project expert appealed to the First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Pavlo Hobzey with a request to enhance the control of how OSAs ensure the equitable distribution of these funds between vocational educational establishments. Following the meeting, the AUC proposal was taken into account and the oblast center cities received the fixed amount of funds in the total amount of 21.1 million UAH, which is 42% of the total amount of the earmarked funds.

The parliament approved the draft Law of Ukraine “On Completed Comprehensive Secondary Education” prepared with the participation of the PULSE Project in the first reading

On May 30, 2019, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the draft of the Law of Ukraine “On Completed Comprehensive Secondary Education” (Registration # 10204 of April 05, 2019) in the first reading. The document was prepared by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with the participation of a PULSE Project expert. The purpose of the draft law is to continue the reform of the New Ukrainian School pursuant to the approval in 2017 of the Law of Ukraine "On Education". The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Science and Education set up a working group to prepare this draft law for the second reading. The PULSE Project expert became a member of the group. The work on the draft law is underway in the Committee working group to prepare it for the second reading.

The Cabinet of Ministers endorsed the Concept for the implementation of national policy in the sector of vocational (professional and technical) education, which specifies the mechanism for transferring the funding of these educational establishments from oblast budgets On June 12, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers endorsed Directive # 419-p “On Approving the Concept for the Implementation of the National Policy in the Sphere of Vocational (Professional and Technical) Education» for the Period till 2027”. The document envisages reforms in the system of vocational (professional and technical) education. In particular, the document proposes a change in the mechanisms for its funding. For example, the document offers a step-by-step transition to funding vocational educational establishments located on the territory of cities of oblast significance from oblast budgets. This is in line with the decision of the AUC Board of February 04, 2019.

STAFF AND ORGANISATIONAL ASPECTS OF THE WORK OF LOCAL COUNCILS The Cabinet of Ministers revised local government salaries Given the delay in the approval of the new wording of the law “On Service in Local Governments”, local governments continue to be dependent on the Cabinet of Ministers with regard to their decision on remuneration. As early as in January, 2019, the parliament changes the minimum salary, while the Cabinet of Ministers revisited salaries for civil servants. However, only in June, relevant issues were taken with regard to local government officials. Representatives of the PULSE Project actively participated in correction of errors of the draft decision and helped to accelerate its endorsement. The decision on this issue removed the social tension of local government officials with regard to unfair salary conditions.

PULSE prevented an excessive increase in state financial control of local governments The parliament considered the Draft Law # 9086, which envisaged an excessive increase in the state financial control of local governments. Its provisions stipulated high corruption risks due to the lack of clear and transparent criteria for evaluating the performance of local governments. Thanks to the active position of PULSE Project experts and their negative expert opinion on the draft law, the parliamentary committee on April 24 returned the document to the Cabinet of Ministers for revision.

SUCCESSES OF IREX/PULSE

The Ministry of Culture noted the cooperation of the AUC with libraries in the context of decentralisation On May 16, Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities matted a presentation at the seminar of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine on the topic: "Social functions of the library for children in the cultural space of the community" conducted in the held at Hadyatska CTC (Poltava oblast). He presented the work of the AUC with libraries in the context of decentralisation and, in particular, the relevant component of the PULSE Project performed by the IREX sub partner.

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The participants discussed the work of cultural institutions and their adaptation to context of decentralisation; new environment for the provision of cultural services in the context of the reform; language policy based on the needs of the community; and search for ways for cooperation of communities and specialised libraries for children.

In late May, the AUC received from the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine a letter of gratitude, which motioned the work of the AUC in the sphere of reforming and supporting libraries in a the context of decentralisation.

SUCCESSES FROM COMMUNITIES

The Association of Ukrainian Cities working within the framework of the PULSE Project collects and disseminates success stories about decentralisation and best practices of consolidated territorial communities. Communities are making significant progress thanks to the work of PULSE regional consultants who work closely with local officials, provide consultations on legal and budget issues, communications and local economic development to improve the organisational aspects of CTC activities.

PUBLIC EDUCATION

The Pavlivska CTC, Zaporizzhya oblast A multimedia library opened A modern multimedia library opened in the village of Semenenkovo, which is part of the Pavlivska CTC. The establishment will be open to all community residents.

The local budget earmarked funds to repair and insulate the premises, purchase modern furniture, computer equipment, plasma TV, and new printed media publications. The library has been connected to the Internet, which significantly expands the range of the library services.

The Novoukrainska CTC. Kirovograd oblast A repaired kindergarten The city of , which is the administrative center of the community, has reconstructed its kindergarten that has been closed for more than 20 years. Now, 100 children from the community will be able to attend this upgraded facility.

The capital repairs of the premises were performed at the expense of the National Regional Development Fund with co-financing provided from the local budget. The community has replaced windows, doors, external and internal engineering networks, repaired the roof, insulated the facade, as well as performed internal repair works. The kindergarten now has a solid fuel boiler room and installed a diesel facility, which will provide an opportunity to have independent electricity supply. Also, the community improved the territory and playgrounds. All in all, the community has spent more than 20 million UAH for the project implementation.

The opening of this facility provided employment opportunities for 40 persons and now the kindergarten has been is fully staffed.

The Kamyanomostivska CTC, Mykolaiv oblast Children Scientific Laboratory More than 400 schoolchildren from the Kamyanomostivska CTC will be able conduct experiments in a scientific laboratory that has opened at a local school. The project has been implemented tanks to the cooperation of the community with international technical assistance projects.

The scientific laboratory will help students who are fond of natural and mathematical sciences to feel themselves as true scholars. The children will have the opportunity to conduct simple and safe experiments.

All the necessary equipment (digital measuring complex, analogue-digital converter, and microscope) and chemical agents were purchased with the support of international technical assistance projects, while the repairs of the premises were performed at the expense of the community.

ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES

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The Vyshnivska CTC, Volyn oblast A new Center for Administrative Services opened A new Center for Administrative Services started to work in the Vyshnivska CTC. The Center was built according to the Transparent Office principle and already provides more than 100 services.

The local budget spent more than 8 million UAH for the construction of a new building, along with the purchase of furniture and equipment. Also, the Center will receive part of its equipment from an international technical assistance project. In addition, the donor will provide funds for the introduction of the electronic document flow system and staff training.

The employees of the CAS have remote job places in villages within the community. Now, the peasants will be able to receive services without going to Vyshniv.

The Pischanska CTC, Poltava oblast The community has opened a Center for Administrative Services The modern Center for Administrative Services working the Transparent Office format opened in the Pischanska CTC. The National Budget provided 1 million UAH for the reconstruction of the premises of the former pharmacy into a Center for Administrative Services, with approximately 300 thousand UAH coming from the community budget. The Center employs 10 specialists who provide about 50 services. So now, community members can apply for all types of services not to the village council, but also to the Center for Administrative Services.

The Velykodederkalska CTC, Ternopil oblast Transparent Office type Center for Administrative Services The Center for Administrative Services, which opened in the Velykodederkalska CTC, has become the eighth Transparent Office format center in the region and will provide social services.

The Center has a remote work station for an employment agency employee, state registrar, and specialists from justice department and the pension fund. The Center will provide almost 150 administrative services including 43 services of social nature.

The community has spent more than 5.5 million UAH on the opening of the Center for Administrative Services including 4.8 million UAH coming from the National Budget, with the rest being the local budget funds.

HEALTH CARE

The Vovkovynetska CTC. Khmelnytskyi oblast New outpatient family medicine unit The new outpatient unit is a two-storied building with the modern refurbishment and medical equipment. Previously, this was the premises of a former elementary school.

The staff of the outpatient unit numbers 10 employees and will provide services to 5,398 inhabitants.

In outpatient unit has three physician rooms, a cabinet for medical manipulations, a day care facility, an inpatient cabinet, a physiotherapy room, a laboratory, and a cabinet of physical therapy.

There facility will have an emergency aid and disaster medicine unit, a drug store, and a dentist's office.

The Tetiivska CTC, Kyiv oblast The community introduces health insurance for its employees Since April 2019, the community introduced its health insurance system. The insurance package will include outpatient treatment, drugs, and surgery (with certain limitations). Each insured person will receive a plastic card and a contract, which will indicate what services it can get under this insurance policy. This information can be obtained with the help of a card.

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The community will pay insurance for community employees. The funds for this are provided for in the local budget in the amount of 2 million UAH. The insurance company will be selected through the tender, because the amounts are quite large: approximately 1 thousand people work for the community.

HOUSING AND MUNICIPAL UTILITIES

The Oleksandrivska CTC, Donetsk oblast Introduction of sorted waste collection The Oleksandrivska CTC continues the construction of a waste sorting station with a capacity of 30 thousand tons per year in the administrative center of the CTC. The enterprise will ensure sorting of waste collecting it from almost the whole community. The community has purchased a garbage truck and 11 units of special equipment for this purpose.

The new company will offer more than 30 employment opportunities for the community.

The Yurkovetska CTC, Chernivtsi oblast The community will repair roads on its own The community has set up the municipal «Благоустрій» [beautification] utility company. Its main task is maintenance and repairs of roads numbering 180 km within the territory of the CTC.

Last year, the community received 3.3 million UAH of the subvention for infrastructure improvements and directed the funds to purchase of equipment for the utility company. In particular, the community purchased a motor grader and other specialised machinery. In the nearest future, the community is planning to purchase one more excavator and a car. Now, the CTC will be able to perform road repairs within its territory on its own.

The Buchanska CTC, Kyiv oblast Center for waste removal services The Buchanska City CTC opened a center for the provision of waste removal services. It provides waste removal services to more than 30,000 community residents, as well as local businesses and public institutions. Such a center is the first in Ukraine and can serve as an example for other communities.

The office provides opportunities for everyone to check their accounts, get advice, buy garbage containers, and conclude an agreement for waste removal. The institution has an interactive map with a real time visual information about the garbage trucks are located.

LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Hlybotska CTC, Chernivtsi oblast The community has set up its own fish company The Hlybotska CTC has set up a Fishery Center municipal company. The main purpose of the company is conservation and reproduction of fishery potential in natural water reservoirs and fish breeding in artificial ponds.

Fishery and fish marketing is a sector in the agricultural business that will raise funds for the community budget.

The municipal company will be engaged in the preparation and insertion of fish in water reservoirs owned by the community. The community has already inserted more than 400 kg of industrial fish (carp, silver carp, and crucian carp).

At the moment, the community is preparing water reservoirs for fishing and recreation of local residents and setting up gazebos and other infrastructure items.

The Trostyanetska CTC, Vinnytsya oblast Corn processing plant A foreign investor in the village of Demkivka, which is part of Trostyanetska CTC, is building a corn processing plant. Its capacity is 100 thousand tons of corn per year (300 tons per day).

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The construction of the plant has to be completed in 2020. It is planned to install a modern Italian made line and build a logistics facility. 80% of the finished product will be exported to the world market, 20% will remain for the domestic market.

The cost of the investment project is 14 million USD. The plant will offer 50 employment opportunities, while taxes will go to the local budget.

The Illinetska CTC, Vinnytsya oblast A seamstress company opened The village Borysivtsi, which is part of the Illinetska CTC, opened a seamstress enterprise that produces working overalls for workers of various spheres of activity.

The community reconstructed the premises of the former village school for the workshops. The company already offers employment opportunities for 30 women who live in different villages within the community.

In general, the implementation of the investment project implies opening of 180 jobs and expansion of manufacturing facilities to 7 - 8 workshops. The amount of the investments in the establishment of a new enterprise is approximately 7 million UAH. The company will also pay taxes to the CTC budget.

SOCIAL PROJECTS

The Hannopilska CTC, Khmelnytskyi oblast Inclusive and Resource Center opened A new center for children with special educational needs was opened in the Hannopilska CTC. The community allocated premises of its outpatient clinic for these purposes. All rooms of the center have been equipped with special equipment, means for studying various subjects through playing, as well as with correctional means. The facility employs a psychologist, speech therapist, and rehabilitation specialists. The Center works with children with intellectual disorders, mental development, musculoskeletal system, vision, hearing problems, etc. The community, the National Budget and the oblast budget spent 800 thousand UAH for equipping the Center.

The Stepanetska CTC, Cherkasy oblast The community supports young parents The Stepanetska CTC has earmarked 90 thousand UAH in the community budget to provide one-time financial assistance to parents after the birth of a child. The appropriate changes were made to the local program for social protection of the population called «Турбота» [care]. In such a way, the community has expressed its willingness to support young families and stimulate the birth rate.

"Supporting rural families in this way is a manifestation of the concern our community has about the youngest villagers", - says the message on the community web site.

COMMUNITY SAFETY

The Tetiivska CTC, Kyiv oblast Municipal guard The Tetiivska City CTC has started it Municipal Guard unit. This is a city organisation for the protection of public order. The unit was set up with the purpose of preventing administrative offenses, preservation of the environment and facilities, as well as improving the CTC, ensuring road safety, etc.

The Mayor handed out tokens and certificates to the staff of the unit and said that the protection of the rights and freedoms of the community should be their priority task.

The Novoznamyanska CTC, Poltava oblast Installation of surveillance cameras Aiming at ensuring safety security on the territory of the community, the local government has decided to install video surveillance cameras on the streets of villages and educational institutions. The cost of the equipment and assembly works will constitute almost 200 thousand UAH, which will come from the local budget.

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The video surveillance will take place at crossroads, on entrance roads to villages, on central streets, and in educational institutions.

The Hlybotska CTC, Chernivtsi oblast The community purchased a fire engine The Cherepkovets Fire Department provides rapid response to all the villages of the Hlybotska CTC. The community is working to provide the fire department with everything what is necessary. So, the community spent funds of its local budget to purchase a fire engine.

The transport will be used by the rapid response team to quickly resolve urgent tasks, eliminate emergencies, and timely preserve property, material values and community life during fire extinguishing.

WORKING WITH YOUTH

City of Zhytomyr School of local self-governance The School of Local Self-Governance is an exclusive program that has been working in Zhytomyr since 2001 and has proven to be one of the most important training programs for young people. The purpose of the school is to raise the level of activism of young people in city public life, and to prepare an effective youth policy providing the opportunity for talented young people to realise themselves, including the professional of a city official. Training in the school is free. Upon completion of the course, which takes place in the premises of the Zhytomyr City Council, the participants receive certificates.

The Zaytsivska CTC, Dnipropetrovsk oblast "Learning about democracy" In the Zaytsivska CTC local government representatives establish cooperation with young community activists and organise communication activities under the title “"Learning about democracy". Students take part in working meetings of the executive committee of the City Council. The community also has a radio group "Zaychata FM" [little hares FM], which broadcasts up-to-date news about the community life. Students prepare radio stories and put them on the Facebook page.

Sloviansk, Donetsk oblast Young people restore a water spring Sloviansk teenagers became participants of the Young Community Energy project, which was implemented in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts by the UN International Children's Fund (UNICEF) with the financial support of the EU. They, together with their parents, served as volunteers to clear the spring from rubbish, laid the basement and put up a pump room. The community used the funds from the donor organisation in the amount of 50 thousand UAH for water and soil analysis and study of the river bed.

Such cooperation of the community with international organisations is a good way to teach teenagers project management, increase their civic engagement and social responsibility for community development.

The Boratynska CTC, Volyn oblast Initiative Youth Program Working within the framework of the local Youth Initiative program, the community pays bonuses to active residents under 21 who are most distinguished in scientific, educational, artistic, and sport, community activities and who have contributed to the development of the Boratynska CTC. Also, the program provides resources for the implementation of its own projects and youth initiatives. For example, the community has implemented the following projects: Clean Community (organisation of public works in the rural community) and I am a Small Library (setting up an online library) and has arranged cinema programs, art master classes, etc.

Also, aiming at popularising the idea of active citizenship, development of youth leadership, and learning effective communication skills, the local government of the Boratynska Community organises training in cooperation with public organisations.

The Ivano-Frankivsk AUC Regional Office Lectures on local self-governance for young people

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Students of the Prykarpattya National University after Vasyl Stefanyk attended the training course on the topics: "The role of young people in popularising the local government reform in the Carpathian region" and "Local economic development of CTCs". In the course of the lectures, students learned about decentralisation processes in the Carpathian region, ways of involving young people in local government decision making, budget benefits of decentralisation, and opportunities for participation in international technical assistance projects.

The Ivano-Frankivsk AUC Regional Office and the University signed a memorandum of cooperation for a competition for students in writing community development projects.

The Oleksandrivska CTC, Donetsk oblast Youth centers in villages within the community The infrastructure improvements are currently underway in the Oleksandrivska Community. The community is finalising the construction of two youth facilities in its two villages. The cost of the construction project in the village of Novopoltavka constitutes almost 1.5 million UAH, while the cost of the construction project in the village of Myrna Dolyna is 1.1 million UAH. Funds for the implementation of the two projects came from the oblast budget (1 million UAH) and the local budget (1.6 million UAH).

Each facility will have a gym with a locker room and a hall for events and a computer class.

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Section 5. COOPERATION WITH OTHER PROJECTS

In the reporting quarter, the PULSE project continued its cooperation with partner projects and organisations. x The PULSE Project representatives participate on a weekly basis in the coordination meeting of decentralisation reform projects under the auspices of the Ministry of Regional Development in the U-LEAD Project office; x The PULSE Project representatives regularly participate in meetings of the Decentralisation Donor Board at the Ministry of Regional Development; x The PULSE Project is implementing two distance learning courses in cooperation with other projects. One course is dedicated to gender-based budgeting for community development (in conjunction with the Swedish project "Gender Oriented Budgeting in Ukraine"). This course also involves the DOBRE Project, which provided practical material from its pilot cities, and the UN Women Organisation. The course started in November, 2018. The second course has the title: "Training Members of Local Councils of Consolidated Territorial Communities" (in cooperation the Norwegian Participative Democracy and Evidence Based Grounded Decision Making at the Local Level in Ukraine project). The course started in January, 2019; and, x PULSE Project representatives regularly participate in activities of partner projects and invite representatives of other projects to their activities.

Details

Workshop on inter-municipal cooperation in metropolitan cities

On April 04, 2019, a workshop on the topic “Development of instruments of democratic governance and inter-municipal cooperation in metropolitan cities: issues and opportunities for social and economic development of the Kyiv region” took place in Kyiv. The organisers of the event were PULSE Project and Council of Europe Decentralisation and Local Government Reform in Ukraine Project in cooperation with the Kyiv City State Administration and the parliamentary Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Governance. The workshop brought together city and town mayors of communities of the Kyiv oblast, representatives of the Kyiv City State Administration, National Deputies, scientists, and Ukrainian and international experts. The main purpose of the workshop was to discuss the future prospects and models of partnership of communities within the Kyiv metropolitan area. Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the AUC, in his opening remarks mentioned that AUC constantly works on the topic of community cooperation in metropolitan cities. He also informed that the purpose of the seminar is to prepare the proposals for the action plan to establish cooperation between communities. In the future, the plan will serve as a guiding document for other municipalities both on their way to establishing metropolitan areas and looking for other effective ways of cooperation. Silvia Ivanova, Director of the Council of Europe Decentralisation and Local Government Reform in Ukraine Project, greeted the participants. Ihor Parasyuk, PULSE Project Director, in his presentation outlined the definition of the metropolitan area and its various models. He emphasised the importance of establishing metropolitan areas for economic and spatial development of cities and regions and focused the attention on metropolitan area models established around big cities in various countries. He also provided an overview of the possibility of joint development of communities in Ukraine in the context of the current decentralisation reform, as well as the need for the legislative framework. National Deputy Lyubomyr Zubach mentioned that metropolitan areas are an important mechanism to spur economic development of the country, as it provides opportunities for investment promotion. L. Zubach mentioned that there are natural metropolitan areas around big cities in Ukraine, however, there is no legislation to regulate the interaction of territorial communities there. The Draft Law “On Metropolitan Areas” (Registration # 6743) introduces a mechanism for establishing metropolitan areas where all their entities would retain the status of a local government and have equal representation in the metropolitan area board. The National Deputy mentioned that this draft law is a good foundation to prepare the law to meet the interest of big cities and neighbouring communities.

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The Ukrainian and international experts in the World Cafe format discussed issues of joint development of infrastructure and service network (education and health care) of the city of Kyiv and Kyiv oblast.

PULSE Project facilitated a meeting of USAID observers on Presidential elections with the Secretary of the Mariupol City Council on April 20, 2019.

On April 24, 2019, Deputy Director of the PULSE Project participated in the France-Ukraine-Eastern Partnership conference. She presented the PP work on gender issues. On May 25, the PULSE Project participated in the Mistechko USAID in Severodonetsk and presented successes of decentralisation. Resources for Communities information fair

The PULSE Project organised an information fair under the title "Resources for communities" within the framework of the Dialogue Day with the Government Authorities at the Ukrainian Municipal Forum on June 18 in Odessa. 16 projects/organisations participated in the event upon the invitation of the PULSE Project, namely: 1. The Council of Europe Strengthening Democracy and Trust in the Local Level in Ukraine Project 2. The Council of Europe Promoting Citizen Participation in the Democratic Decision-Making Process in Ukraine Project 3. The Council of Europe Decentralisation and Local Self-Government Reform in Ukraine Project 4. Canadian Government PLEDDG Project 5. USAID DOBRE Project 6. Supporting Decentralisation in Ukraine Project 7. U-LEAD with Europe Project 8. DESPRO Project 9. Project of the International Organisation for Migration for Implementation of the National Mechanism for the Interaction of Entities Conducting Activities to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, Including Children, in the Odessa Oblast 10. UNICEF Vaccination Project 11. EGAP Project 12. United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine 13. UNDP 14. USAID Competitive Economy of Ukraine Project 15. USAID Policy for Ukraine’s Local Self-Governance Project (PULSE) 16. Also, the materials of the USAID Citizens in Action project were distributed

More than 400 Forum participants attended the event.

America House

On May 28, 2019, the PULSE Project organised a webinar on health care in CTCs in the America House. The event was conducted by the IREX/PULSE team. A Project health care expert spoke about the main aspects of primary care in consolidated communities and provided answers to al the questions the participants had the opportunity to put in advance.

EU Project for Strengthening the Public Financial Systems of Local Governments The PULSE Project provided its comments to the draft law of Ukraine “On Introducing Amendments to the Budget Code of Ukraine Regarding Increasing the Accountability of Local Authorities for Violations of the Budget Legislation”, prepared by the EU Project for Strengthening the Public Financial Systems of Local Governments. The draft offered a suggestion to increase the responsibility of local authorities for making decisions that have budget consequences. The proposed legislative initiatives overlap with the rules of the current specialised legislation, therefore the PULSE Project expert mentioned the inappropriateness of such legislative initiatives and proposed to elaborate the content of the draft law. Office of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Ukraine

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The PULSE Project continues cooperation with UNICEF on the implementation of the Child and Youth Friendly Community initiative in Ukraine. During the reporting period, a PULSE Project expert, in conjunction with UNICEF, lobbied for the approval by the parliament of draft laws to increase the share of personal income tax going to local budgets of territorial communities, which are recognised as candidates for the status of the Child and Youth Friendly Community, or have received or confirmed the status of a Child and Youth Friendly Community. Such laws are under consideration in the parliamentary Committees: # 10189 of March 27, 2019 and # 10190 of March 27, 2019. Deputy PULSE Project Director N. Lazarenko met with the Director UNICEF Vaccination Project on potential cooperation. They discussed the possibility of conducting joint events. The Vaccination Project was presented at the Resources for Communities Information Fair in Odesa. Institute of Professional Qualifications and GIZ Project On May 15, 2019, a PULSE Project expert participated in the presentation by the Institute of Professional Qualifications under the title: "Analysis of the needs of the labour market, problem issues and opportunities on the territory of Eastern Ukraine." The participants of the event discussed the overview of the labour market in six eastern regions of Ukraine, as well as the availability of training opportunities in the relative regions to meet the demand for skilled workers. In addition to this, the presentation dealt with the basic skills and expertise necessary for successful employment and meeting the needs of employers. The study performed by the Institute of Professional Qualifications is extremely important for the labour market and especially for a better distribution of funds in the system of vocational education according to the state, regional and local requests. The PULSE Project expert offered a suggestion to improve the study by reviewing the needs of the labour market in the context of urban and rural territories. Presentation of the expert review on governance in metropolitan cities (Kyiv region)

The organisers of the event were PULSE Project and Council of Europe Decentralisation and Local Government Reform in Ukraine Project in cooperation with the Kyiv City State Administration. On May 16, 2019 a meeting of local government representatives of the Kyiv region and Council or Europe to discuss cooperation in metropolitan cities took place. The event brought together village, town and city mayors of the Kyiv oblast. A. Fedoruk, Bucha City Mayor and Chairman of the Kyiv Regional Office of the Association of Ukrainian Cities also participated in the event. Following the meeting, the participants discussed the prospects and models of partnership within the Kyiv metropolitan area, improvements to the law on metropolitan areas and equitable and mutually beneficial partnership. They spoke about economic development, spatial planning, development of the transportation infrastructure, housing and municipal utilities and health care.

Meetings with experts

On May 17, 2019, PULSE Project Director I. Parasyuk took part in the meeting of representatives Council of Europe member states and Council of Europe representatives with Ukrainian in local government development. The event brought together: Jacob Richter, Chief Executive of the Hamburg Metropolitan Area (Germany), Marko Orlando, Director of the National Association of Italian Municipalities (), Artur Tusinski, City Mayor of Podkova Lesna, Sharlotte Adan, Director of Charlie Adan Executive Ltd., Paul Hildret, Researcher of the Bartlet Urban Development School, London University, Markiyan Datsyshyn, expert of the Council of Europe Program, Silvia Ivanova, Director of the Council of Europe Decentralisation and Local Government Reform in Ukraine Project, Oleksandr Serhienko, Director of the City Institute and Tetyana Kryshtop, advisor on spatial planning of territories and DIPROMISTO expert. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss the need to establish the Kyiv metropolitan area in the context of the unfinished first phase of the decentralisation reform and provisions of the draft law “On Metropolitan Areas”. I. Parasyuk emphasised the need for an information campaign to explain the meaning of the metropolitan area and expediency of involving Ukrainian businesses to the establishment of metropolitan areas. He also emphasised the need to have the proper legislative framework. The Council of Europe expert review of governance in metropolitan cities is expected to provide recommendation on improving legislation.

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CASE Ukraine Project supported by USAID/DOBRE and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour of the US Department of State (DRL) On May 31, 2019, the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center in Kyiv organised a presentation of the budget simulator of CTCs and interactive school budget presented by the Center for Social and Economic Research - CASS Ukraine with the support of the USAID/DOBRE Project and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour of the US Department of State (DRL). PULSE Project experts participated in the event. The budget simulator is an instrument that presents complex figures about available budget resources in a form that is easy to understand by ordinary citizens and provides an opportunity to build a constructive dialogue between community leaders and residents. In addition to this, the event participants introduced the developed model of the interactive school budget and budget of a health care establishment to enhance accountability of public sector budget institutions to tax payers at the local level. PULSE Project experts commented on the use of this tool in the context of local government activities and outlined the future prospects for the development of e-governance. In addition to this, the PULSE Project expert offered a suggestion to supplement the interactive school budget model with indicators that would provide opportunities to review the effectiveness of spending budget funds. Also, the PULSE Project expert mentioned the importance of not only defining the cost of training of one student per year, but also to determine where the local budget resources go to. This will provide opportunity for parents to monitor the effective use of funds, as well as to comply with the Law of Ukraine "On Education" regarding the budget transparency and openness educational establishments. Presentation of the City Competitiveness Index Methodology

On June 13, 2019, PULSE Project Director I. Parasyuk and PULSE Project LED expert D. Serebryanska took part in the discussion of the methodology of the City Competitiveness Index (CCI). The event organisers were: USAID Competitive Economy of Ukraine Project (CEU). CEU is planning to announce a competition to assess business climate in 24 oblast centers of Ukraine (in 2019) and then in all bigger cities of Ukraine (45 cities – 2021 and 60 cities – 2023). The purpose of the CCI is the preparation of a tool to assess and monitor progress of Ukrainian cities in improving local business climate. CCI will also be used to spot the main issues of business development in each of the cities, as well as to prepare proposals on how to resolve them. The purpose of the event was to discuss the goal and proposed CCI tools with representatives of governments, citizens and expert community, as well as involving them to cooperation for introduction and use of the CCI.

Council of European Municipalities and Regions PLATFORMA Project On June 27, 2019, Deputy PULSE Project Director N. Lazarenko took part in the Skype conference of PLATFORMA Project participants with local government associations from various European countries implementing local government projects in Ukraine and spoke about the work of the PULSE Project. Synergies of USAID projects with PULSE sub partner IREX During the information event conducted within the framework of the PULSE Project in Mariupol (Donetsk oblast) a representative of the IREX team used the methodology prepared by USAID DOBRE Project. The event participants (mostly young people) actively studied the principles of budget preparation. Each participant had an opportunity to act as a city mayor, entrepreneur, or an ordinary citizen. This format was prepared by Liliya Antazheva, DOBRE consultant who also works for the IREX team to prepare scenarios for video programs for PULSE Project participants in the next quarter.

17 pilot PULSE Project communities received the Mafia interactive anti-corruption game and use it as an effective tool for IREX grantees in their work with CTC residents and local activists. The game was designed within the framework of the USAID VzaemoDia [interaction] Project.

The USAID Citizens in Action Project provided PULSE Project participants manuals under the title: “Non- governmental and charity organisations in Ukraine. Registration and activities”. This tool provides incentives for civil society development Ukrainian communities as it describes the mechanisms for registration and work of civil society organisations in a user friendly format.

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Section 6. SUGGESTED PLAN OF ACTIVITIES FOR THE COMING QUARTER

ER 1: Decentralisation enabling legislation reflects local government input

- Legislation drafting - Legislation monitoring - Providing consultations for local governments on legislation application - Holding meetings of Regional Policy Development Platforms - Participation in meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers and Cabinet of Ministers committees

ER 2: Resources under local self-governance authority increased - Continuation of work on NSSN - Supporting pilot communities under the Incubator of Sustainable Communities initiative - Conducting study tours within the framework of the “Itinerary of Successes” nation-wide exchange study tour Project component

ER 3: Capacity of stakeholders increased - Conducting regional legislation application laboratories - Conducting legislation drafting and advocacy laboratories - Setting up information communications channels and tool to interact with media - Preparing information products for media - Dissemination of information messages - Supporting AUC website and web platforms - Collecting success stories and best practices

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ANNEXES

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Annex А PULSE Project Calendar of events For April – June, 2019

# Date of the events Location Implementer Event format 1. April 03, 2019 city of Zdolbuniv IREX/PULSE Modelling community (Rivne oblast) development 2. April 03, 2019 city of Myrhorod AUC/PULSE Working session of the Poltava Regional Policy Dialogue Platform 3. April 04, 2019 Workshop in cooperation city of Kyiv AUC/PULSE with the Council of Europe 4. April 04, 2019 Expert workshop for Oblast city of Kharkiv UAROC/PULSE Councils and rayon councils 5. April 04 - 05, 2019 Sectoral legislation drafting city of Kyiv AUC/PULSE and advocacy laboratory 6. April 05, 2019 Expert workshop for Oblast city of Poltava UAROC/PULSE Councils and rayon councils 7. Regional legislation April 05, 2019 city of Lutsk AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Volyn AUC RO 8. April 05, 2019 city of Cremona AUC/PULSE Luhansk AUC RO, Press tour (Luhansk oblast) 9. April 08, 2019 city of Kyiv AUC/PULSE Round table discussion with students 10. April 09, 2019 town of Nedryhailiv AUC/PULSE Sumy AUC RO, Press tour (Sumy oblast) 11. April 09, 2019 town of Hlyboka AUC/PULSE Chernivtsi AUC RO, Press (Chernivtsi oblast) tour 12. Regional legislation April 09, 2019 city of Kyiv AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Kyiv AUC RO 13. April 09, 2019 village of Smolyhiv IREX/PULSE Information fair (Volyn oblast) 14. Regional legislation April 10, 2019 city of Kropyvnytskyi AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Kirovohrad AUC RO 15. April 10, 2019 village of IREX/PULSE Workshop Hlybochytsya (Zhytomyr oblast) 16. April 10, 2019 village of Klishkivtsi IREX/PULSE Debates (Chernivtsi oblast) 17. Study tour within the framework of the «Itinerary of Successes» nation-wide April 10 - 11, 2019 city of Rivne AUC/PULSE exchange study tour Project component for local government representatives 18. April 11, 2019 city of Zhytomyr AUC/PULSE Regional legislation

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application laboratory in the Zhytomyr AUC RO 19. Regional legislation April 11, 2019 city of Cherkasy AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Cherkasy AUC RO 20. April 11, 2019 town of Mala AUC/PULSE Kharkiv AUC RO, Press tour Danylivka () 21. April 11, 2019, city of Hlobyne AUC/PULSE Kyiv AUC RO, study tour (Poltava oblast) within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 22. April 11, 2019 village of Shyroke IREX/PULSE Biblioquest (Zaporizzhya oblast) 23. April 11, 2019 city of Tokmak IREX/PULSE Training (Zaporizzhya oblast) 24. April 11 - 12, 2019 city of Ternopil AUC/PULSE Working session of the AUC Public Education Professional Group 25. Regional legislation April 12, 2019 city of Zaporizzhya AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Zaporizzhya AUC RO 26. Regional legislation April 12, 2019 city of Dnipro AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Dnipropetrovsk AUC RO 27. April 12, 2019 town of AUC/PULSE Donetsk AUC RO, Press tour Oleksandrivka (Donetsk oblast) 28. April 12, 2019 city of AUC/PULSE Kirovohrad AUC RO, study () tour within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 29. April 12, 2019 cities of and AUC/PULSE Khmelnytskyi AUC RO, study Hrynivtsi tour within the framework (Khmelnytskyi oblast) of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 30. April 13, 2019 village of Chmyrivka IREX/PULSE Debates (Luhansk oblast) 31. April 14, 2019 village of Yevsuh IREX/PULSE Training (Luhansk oblast) 32. Regional legislation April 15, 2019 city of Vinnytsya AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Vinnytsya AUC RO 33. Regional legislation April 15, 2019 city of Severodonetsk AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the

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Luhansk AUC RO 34. April 16, 2019 Expert workshop for Oblast city of Chernihiv UAROC/PULSE Councils and rayon councils 35. April 16, 2019 city of AUC/PULSE Khmelnytskyi AUC RO, Press (Khmelnytskyi oblast) tour 36. April 16, 2019 Villages of Shyroke, AUC/PULSE Zaporizzhya AUC RO, Press Volodymyrivka, tour Sonyachne and Petropil (Zaporizzhya oblast) 37. April 16, 2019 town of AUC/PULSE Sumy AUC RO, study tour (Poltava oblast) within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 38. April 16, 2019 city of Berdychiv IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Zhytomyr oblast) 39. April 16, 2019 city of Severodonetsk IREX/PULSE Live library (Luhansk oblast) 40. April 16, 2019 village of Buzivka IREX/PULSE Live library (Cherkasy oblast) 41. April 16, 2019 village of Semenivka IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Zaporizzhya oblast) 42. April 17, 2019 city of Kamianka- AUC/PULSE Lviv AUC RO, Press tour Buzka (Lviv oblast) 43. April 17, 2019 city of IREX/PULSE Quiz (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 44. April 17, 2019 town of IREX/PULSE Live library (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 45. April 17, 2019 village of Vita- IREX/PULSE Meeting with government Poshtova (Kyiv oblast) representatives 46. April 17, 2019 village of IREX/PULSE Debates Hlybochytsya (Zhytomyr oblast) 47. April 18, 2019 city of Lviv UAROC/PULSE Expert workshop for Oblast Councils and rayon councils 48. April 18, 2019 city of Reni (Odesa IREX/PULSE Live library oblast) 49. April 18, 2019 village of Karpylivka IREX/PULSE Meeting with government (Rivne oblast) representatives 50. April 18, 2019 village of Shulhynka IREX/PULSE Live library (Luhansk oblast) 51. April 18, 2019 city of Bar (Vinnytsya IREX/PULSE Modelling community oblast) development 52. April 18, 2019 village of Slout (Sumy IREX/PULSE Modelling community oblast) development 53. April 18, 2019 village of Hrun (Sumy IREX/PULSE On line meeting with PULSE oblast) Project regional consultants 54. April 18, 2019 town of Chornyi IREX/PULSE Brain ring Ostriv (Khmelnytskyi

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oblast) 55. April 18, 2019 city of Siversk IREX/PULSE Training (Donetsk oblast) 56. April 18, 2019 town of Hrytsiv IREX/PULSE Skype meeting (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 57. April 18, 2019 town of Yakymivka IREX/PULSE Training (Zaporizzhya oblast) 58. April 18, 2019 village of Ust-Putyla IREX/PULSE Fair of citizen initiatives (Chernivtsi oblast) 59. April 18 - 19, 2019 city of Kyiv AUC/PULSE Sectoral legislation drafting and advocacy laboratory 60. April 19, 2019 village of Serhiyivka AUC/PULSE Poltava AUC RO, study tour (Poltava oblast) within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 61. April 19, 2019 village of Troyitske AUC/PULSE Luhansk AUC RO, study tour (Luhansk oblast) within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 62. April 19, 2019 town of AUC/PULSE Chernihiv AUC RO, study () tour within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 63. April 19, 2019 city of Kreminna IREX/PULSE Modelling community (Luhansk oblast) development 64. April 19, 2019 village of IREX/PULSE Dialogue meeting Nedoboyivtsi (Chernivtsi oblast) 65. April 20, 2019 town of Chernihivka IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Zaporizzhya oblast) 66. April 20, 2019 town of Nemishayeve IREX/PULSE Information fair (Kyiv oblast) 67. April 23, 2019 city of Vynohradiv IREX/PULSE Modelling community (Zakarpattya oblast) development 68. April 23, 2019 village of Pidloztsi AUC/PULSE Rivne AUC RO, study tour (Rivne oblast) within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 69. April 23, 2019 town of IREX/PULSE Information fair Krasnorichenske (Luhansk oblast) 70. April 24, 2019 village of Marazliyivka AUC/PULSE Odesa AUC RO, study tour (Odesa oblast) within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study

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tour Project component 71. Regional legislation April 24, 2019 city of Chernivtsi AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Chernivtsi AUC RO 72. Regional legislation April 24 , 2019 city of Kremenchuk AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Poltava AUC RO 73. April 24, 2019 city of Mariupol IREX/PULSE Conversation club (Donetsk oblast) 74. April 24, 2019 city of Severodonetsk IREX/PULSE Information fair (Luhansk oblast) 75. April 24, 2019 village of Solobkivtsi IREX/PULSE Live library (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 76. April 24, 2019 city of Lviv (Lviv IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a oblast) discussion 77. Regional legislation April 25, 2019 city of Kharkiv AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Kharkiv AUC RO 78. April 25, 2019 village of Zvanivka IREX/PULSE Training (Donetsk oblast) 79. April 25, 2019 city of Starobilsk IREX/PULSE Meeting and discussion (Luhansk oblast) 80. April 25, 2019 town of Dunayivtsi IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 81. April 25, 2019 city of Balta (Odesa IREX/PULSE Round table discussion oblast) 82. April 25, 2019 town of Pischane IREX/PULSE Street consultation pointy (Poltava oblast) 83. April 25, 2019 city of IREX/PULSE Workshop (Chernihiv oblast) 84. May 03, 2019 city of Lviv AUC/PULSE Working session of the Lviv Regional Policy Dialogue Platform 85. May 03, 2019 city of Kamianka AUC/PULSE Cherkasy AUC RO, Press (Cherkasy oblast) tour 86. May 03, 2019 town of Pischane IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a (Poltava oblast) discussion 87. May 04, 2019 village of Velyka Volya IREX/PULSE Information fair (Lviv oblast) 88. May 05, 2019 city of Nizhyn IREX/PULSE Information fair (Chernihiv oblast) 89. May 06, 2019 city of Vynohradiv IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Zakarpattya oblast) 90. May 07, 2019 village of Pererisl AUC/PULSE Ivano-Frankivsk AUC RO, (Ivano-Frankivsk Press tour oblast) 91. May 07, 2019 city of Berdychiv IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a (Zhytomyr oblast) discussion 92. May 07, 2019 city of Horodok IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a (Khmelnytskyi oblast) discussion

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93. May 07, 2019 village of Kozyn (Rivne IREX/PULSE Information fair oblast) 94. May 07, 2019 town of Ivano- IREX/PULSE Live library Frankove (Lviv oblast) 95. May 09, 2019 village of Yevsuh IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Luhansk oblast) 96. May 09, 2019 village of Zvanivka IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Donetsk oblast) 97. May 10, 2019 towns of Peresadivka, AUC/PULSE Mykolaiv AUC RO, study Kalynivka and tour within the framework Voskresenske of the "Itinerary of (Mykolaiv oblast) Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 98. May 10, 2019 towns of Peresadivka, AUC/PULSE Mykolaiv AUC RO, Press Kalynivka and tour Voskresenske (Mykolaiv oblast) 99. May 11, 2019 village of Semenivka IREX/PULSE Information fair (Zhytomyr oblast) 100. May 11, 2019 city of IREX/PULSE What, Where, When? game Starokostyantyniv (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 101. May 11, 2019 village of Velyka Volya IREX/PULSE Live library (Lviv oblast) 102. May 11, 2019 village of Vita- IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a Poshtova (Kyiv oblast) discussion 103. May 12, 2019 town of Chernihivka IREX/PULSE Modelling community (Zaporizzhya oblast) development 104. May 12, 2019 village of Pavlivka IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Volyn oblast) 105. May 12, 2019 town of Hnizdychiv IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Lviv oblast) 106. May 13, 2019 city of Severodonetsk IREX/PULSE Information fair (Luhansk oblast) 107. May 13, 2019 city of Trostyanets IREX/PULSE Meeting with government (Sumy oblast) representatives 108. May 14, 2019 city of AUC/PULSE Zakarpattya AUC RO, study (Zakarpattya oblast) tour within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 109. May 14, 2019 city of Perechyn AUC/PULSE Zakarpattya AUC RO, Press (Zakarpattya oblast) tour 110. Regional legislation May 14, 2019 city of Ternopil AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Ternopil AUC RO 111. May 14, 2019 town of Chemyrivtsi IREX/PULSE Meeting and dialogue (Khmelnytskyi oblast)

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112. May 14, 2019 town of Smyha (Rivne IREX/PULSE Live library oblast) 113. May 14, 2019 city of Uman IREX/PULSE Open space (Cherkasy oblast) 114. May 15, 2019 village of Sursko- AUC/PULSE Dnipropetrovsk AUC RO, Lytovske Press tour (Dnipropetrovsk oblast) 115. Regional legislation May 15, 2019 city of Ivano-Frankivsk AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Ivano-Frankivsk AUC RO 116. May 15, 2019 city of Reni (Odesa IREX/PULSE Training oblast) 117. May 15, 2019 city of Reni (Odesa IREX/PULSE Street consultation point oblast) 118. May 15, 2019 city of Kramatorsk IREX/PULSE On site consultation point (Donetsk oblast) 119. May 15, 2019 city of Kreminna IREX/PULSE Information fair (Luhansk oblast) 120. May 15, 2019 city of IREX/PULSE Live library (Vinnytsya oblast) 121. May 15, 2019 town of Nemyriv (Lviv IREX/PULSE Meeting with government oblast) representatives 122. May 15, 2019 city of Dunayivtsi IREX/PULSE Training (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 123. May 15, 2019 town of Chornyi IREX/PULSE Fair Ostriv (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 124. May 16, 2019 town of Khotin (Sumy AUC/PULSE Sumy AUC RO, Press tour oblast) 125. May 16, 2019 town of Broshniv- AUC/PULSE Volyn AUC RO, study tour Osada (Ivano- within the framework of the Frankivsk oblast) "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 126. May 16, 2019 town of Bilovodsk AUC/PULSE Luhansk AUC RO, Press tour (Luhansk oblast) 127. May 16, 2019 town of Nedryhailiv AUC/PULSE Kharkiv AUC RO, study tour (Sumy oblast) within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 128. May 16, 2019 town of Broshniv- AUC/PULSE Chernivtsi AUC RO, study Osada (Ivano- tour within the framework Frankivsk oblast) of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 129. Regional legislation May 16, 2019 town of Bilovodsk AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Luhansk AUC RO

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130. May 16, 2019 city of Bar (Vinnytsya IREX/PULSE Meeting with the oblast) prometheus.org platform 131. May 16, 2019 town of IREX/PULSE Street consultation point Krasnorichenske (Luhansk oblast) 132. May 16, 2019 city of (Kyiv IREX/PULSE Training oblast) 133. May 16, 2019 city of Skvyra (Kyiv IREX/PULSE Modelling community oblast) development 134. May 16, 2019 city of Volochysk IREX/PULSE Live library (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 135. May 16 - 17, 2019, city of Cherkasy AUC/PULSE Working session of the AUC Housing and Municipal Utilities Professional Group 136. May 16 - 17, 2019 city of Kharkiv AUC/PULSE Working session of the AUC Social Protection Professional Group

137. May 17, 2019 city of Kyiv UAROC/PULSE Nation-wide expert workshop for rayon and oblast councils 138. May 17, 2019 town of Askania-Nova AUC/PULSE Kherson AUC RO, study tour (Kherson oblast) within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 139. May 17, 2019 city of AUC/PULSE Kirovohrad AUC RO, Press (Kirovohrad oblast) tour 140. May 17, 2019 city of (Lviv AUC/PULSE Lviv AUC RO, study tour oblast) within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 141. Regional legislation May 17, 2019 city of Rivne AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Rivne AUC RO 142. May 17, 2019 city of Horodok IREX/PULSE On line meeting with a (Khmelnytskyi oblast) neighbouring community 143. May 17, 2019 city of Kramatorsk IREX/PULSE Meeting with government (Donetsk oblast) representatives 144. May 17, 2019 village of Karpylivka IREX/PULSE Live library (Rivne oblast) 145. May 17, 2019 city of Novyi IREX/PULSE Open lesson (Lviv oblast) 146. May 18, 2019 village of Semenivka IREX/PULSE Debates (Zhytomyr oblast) 147. May 18, 2019 city of Mariupol IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Donetsk oblast) 148. May 18, 2019 village of IREX/PULSE Meeting and dialogue Voyevoddske

112 April – June, 2019

(Luhansk oblast) 149. May 18, 2019 village of Chmyrivka IREX/PULSE Training (Luhansk oblast) 150. May 18, 2019 village of Snihurivka IREX/PULSE Training (Zaporizzhya oblast) 151. May 19, 2019 town of IREX/PULSE Community mapping (Vinnytsya oblast) 152. May 19, 2019 town of Yarmolyntsi IREX/PULSE Training (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 153. May 19, 2019 town of Nemishayeve IREX/PULSE Brain ring (Kyiv oblast) 154. May 19, 2019 village of Smolyhiv IREX/PULSE Live library (Volyn oblast) 155. May 20, 2019 city of Balta (Odesa IREX/PULSE Street consultation point oblast) 156. May 21, 2019 village of Rozdol AUC/PULSE Zaporizzhya AUC RO, Press (Zaporizzhya oblast) tour 157. May 21, 2019 town of Nova AUC/PULSE Poltava AUC RO, study tour Vodolaha (Kharkiv within the framework of the oblast) "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 158. May 21, 2019 village of Nova AUC/PULSE Sumy AUC RO, Press tour Sloboda (Sumy oblast) 159. May 21, 2019 town of Zabolotiv AUC/PULSE Ivano-Frankivsk AUC RO, (Ivano-Frankivsk Press tour oblast) 160. May 21, 2019 village of Shulhynka IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a (Luhansk oblast) discussion 161. May 21, 2019 town of Chemyrivtsi IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 162. May 21, 2019 town of Hrytsiv IREX/PULSE Information fair (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 163. May 21, 2019 village of Semenivka IREX/PULSE Training (Zaporizzhya oblast) 164. May 21, 2019 village of Karpylivka IREX/PULSE Training (Rivne oblast) 165. May 22, 2019 city of Vylkove AUC/PULSE Odesa AUC RO, study tour (Odesa oblast) within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 166. May 22, 2019 villages of Chulakivka AUC/PULSE Kherson AUC RO, Press tour and Ryblache (Kherson oblast) 167. May 22, 2019 village of Vyshniv AUC/PULSE Volyn AUC RO, Press tour (Volyn oblast) 168. Regional legislation May 22, 2019 city of Chernihiv AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Chernihiv AUC RO

113 QUARTERLY REPORT for the implementation of the PULSE Project

169. May 22, 2019 village of Hrun (Sumy IREX/PULSE Fair of ideas oblast) 170. May 22, 2019 city of Starobilsk IREX/PULSE Meeting and discussion (Luhansk oblast) 171. May 22, 2019 village of Slout (Sumy IREX/PULSE Street consultation point oblast) 172. May 22, 2019 city of Dunayivtsi IREX/PULSE Information fair (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 173. Study tour within the framework of the «Itinerary of Successes» nation-wide May 22 - 23, 2019 city of Boryspil AUC/PULSE exchange study tour Project component for local government representatives 174. May 22, 2019 town of IREX/PULSE On site event (Vinnytsya oblast) 175. May 23, 2019 town of Kostryzhivka IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Chernivtsi oblast) 176. May 23, 2019 city of Kherson AUC/PULSE Working session of the Kherson Regional Policy Dialogue Platform 177. May 23, 2019 city of Rivne UAROC/PULSE Expert workshop for Oblast Councils and rayon councils 178. May 23, 2019 city of Lviv UAROC/PULSE Expert workshop for Oblast Councils and rayon councils 179. May 23, 2019 city of Ternopil UAROC/PULSE Expert workshop for Oblast Councils and rayon councils 180. May 23, 2019 village of Klishkivtsi IREX/PULSE Live library (Chernivtsi oblast) 181. May 23, 2019 village of Buzivka IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a (Cherkasy oblast) discussion 182. May 23 - 24, 2019 city of Kyiv AUC/PULSE Sectoral legislation drafting and advocacy laboratory 183. May 23 - 24, 2019 city of Ivano-Frankivsk AUC/PULSE Working session of the AUC Health Care Professional Group 184. May 24, 2019 city of Dnipro AUC/PULSE Working session of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Policy Dialogue Platform 185. May 24, 2019 city of Lokhvytsya AUC/PULSE Poltava AUC RO, Press tour (Poltava oblast) 186. May 25, 2019 city of Severodonetsk AUC/PULSE Mistechko USAID 187. May 25, 2019 city of Lyman IREX/PULSE Information fair (Donetsk oblast) 188. May 25, 2019 village of Stanyshivka IREX/PULSE Meeting with government (Zhytomyr oblast) representatives 189. May 25, 2019 city of IREX/PULSE Live library Starokostyantyniv (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 190. May 25, 2019 city of Trostyanets IREX/PULSE On site event

114 April – June, 2019

(Sumy oblast) 191. May 25, 2019 town of Yakymivka IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Zaporizzhya oblast) 192. May 26, 2019 city of IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Lviv oblast) 193. May 27, 2019 town of Rohan AUC/PULSE Kharkiv AUC RO, Press tour (Kharkiv oblast) 194. May 28, 2019 village of IREX/PULSE Training Hlybochytsya (Zhytomyr oblast) 195. May 28, 2019 village of Ust-Putyla IREX/PULSE Live library (Chernivtsi oblast) 196. May 28, 2019 village of AUC/PULSE Zaporizzhya AUC RO, study Novouspenivka tour within the framework (Zaporizzhya oblast) of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 197. May 29, 2019 village of Zhdanivka AUC/PULSE Vinnytsya AUC RO, study (Vinnytsya oblast) tour within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 198. May 29, 2019 city of AUC/PULSE Ternopil AUC RO, study tour (Ivano-Frankivsk within the framework of the oblast) "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 199. Regional legislation May 29, 2019 city of Cherkasy AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Cherkasy AUC RO 200. May 29, 2019 city of Lviv (Lviv IREX/PULSE Live library oblast) 201. May 29, 2019 village of Solobkivtsi IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a (Khmelnytskyi oblast) discussion 202. May 29, 2019 village of IREX/PULSE Interactive meeting Hlybochytsya (Zhytomyr oblast) 203. May 29, 2019 city of Zdolbuniv IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a (Rivne oblast) discussion 204. May 31, 2019 village of Ivanivka AUC/PULSE Kyiv AUC RO, study tour (Chernihiv oblast) within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 205. May 31, 2019 city of Kramatorsk AUC/PULSE Working session of the Donetsk Regional Policy Dialogue Platform 206. May 31, 2019 village of Pryvilne AUC/PULSE Rivne AUC RO, Press tour

115 QUARTERLY REPORT for the implementation of the PULSE Project

(Rivne oblast) 207. AUC Herald # 162 for April – Late May AUC/PULSE May published 208. May 30, 2019 city of Bar (Vinnytsya IREX/PULSE Meeting with the oblast) prometheus.org platform 209. May 30, 2019 city of Tokmak IREX/PULSE Training (Zaporizzhya oblast) 210. May 30 - 31, 2019 city of Chernihiv AUC/PULSE Working session of the AUC Local Economic Development Professional Group 211. June 01, 2019 city of Reni (Odesa IREX/PULSE Street consultation point oblast) 212. June 01, 2019 city of Starobilsk IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Luhansk oblast) 213. June 01, 2019 city of Tokmak IREX/PULSE Modelling community (Zaporizzhya oblast) development 214. June 01, 2019 town of Kostryzhivka IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Chernivtsi oblast) 215. June 02, 2019 town of Tomashpil IREX/PULSE On site event (Vinnytsya oblast) 216. June 02, 2019 village of Snihurivka IREX/PULSE Meeting and discussion (Zaporizzhya oblast) 217. June 02, 2019 town of Chornyi IREX/PULSE Modelling community Ostriv (Khmelnytskyi development oblast) 218. June 03, 2019 village of Snihurivka IREX/PULSE Modelling community (Zaporizzhya oblast) development 219. June 04, 2019 city of Dnipro UAROC/PULSE Expert workshop for Oblast Councils and rayon councils 220. June 04, 2019 village of Shulhynka IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Luhansk oblast) 221. June 04, 2019 town of Ivano- IREX/PULSE Street consultation point Frankove (Lviv oblast) 222. June 04, 2019 town of IREX/PULSE Live library Krasnorichenske (Luhansk oblast) 223. Regional legislation June 05, 2019 city of Mykolaiv AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Mykolaiv AUC RO 224. June 05, 2019 village of Semenivka IREX/PULSE Modelling community (Zaporizzhya oblast) development 225. June 05, 2019 town of Dublyany IREX/PULSE Training (Lviv oblast) 226. June 06, 2019 city of Svyatohirsk UAROC/PULSE Expert workshop for Oblast Councils and rayon councils 227. June 06, 2019 city of Siversk IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Donetsk oblast) 228. June 06, 2019 town of Chemyrivtsi IREX/PULSE Brain ring (Khmelnytskyi oblast)

116 April – June, 2019

229. June 06, 2019 town of Yarmolyntsi IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a (Khmelnytskyi oblast) discussion 230. June 06, 2019 village of Snihurivka IREX/PULSE Modelling community (Zaporizzhya oblast) development 231. June 06, 2019 town of Pischane IREX/PULSE Public hearings (Poltava oblast) 232. June 06, 2019 village of Klishkivtsi IREX/PULSE Street information point (Chernivtsi oblast) 233. June 06, 2019 city of Kyiv AUC/PULSE Sectoral forum on education for directors of education management departments from oblast center cities 234. June 06 - 07, 2019 city of AUC/PULSE (in Sectoral forum on LED (Vinnytsya oblast) cooperation within the framework of the with the Culture and Art Industries as Ukrainian Center a Foundation for the Smart for Cultural Strategy for the Research and Development of the Small Institute of Territory Cultural Policy) 235. June 07, 2019 city of Kyiv UAROC/PULSE Expert workshop for Oblast Councils and rayon councils 236. June 07, 2019 town of Smyha (Rivne IREX/PULSE Open dialogue oblast) 237. June 07, 2019 city of IREX/PULSE Modelling community Starokostyantyniv development (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 238. June 07, 2019 village of Shyroke IREX/PULSE World cafe (Zaporizzhya oblast) 239. June 08, 2019 village of Stanyshivka IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a (Zhytomyr oblast) discussion 240. June 08, 2019 village of Semenivka IREX/PULSE Meeting (Zhytomyr oblast) 241. June 09, 2019 town of Nemishayeve IREX/PULSE Meeting with government (Kyiv oblast) representatives 242. Regional legislation June 10, 2019 city of Lutsk AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Volyn AUC RO 243. June 10, 2019 city of Severodonetsk IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Luhansk oblast) 244. June 10, 2019 village of Shyroke IREX/PULSE Information fair (Zaporizzhya oblast) 245. June 11, 2019 Kamianka (Cherkasy AUC/PULSE Poltava AUC RO, study tour oblast) within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 246. June 11, 2019 city of Kamianka AUC/PULSE Kirovohrad AUC RO, study (Cherkasy oblast) tour within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide

117 QUARTERLY REPORT for the implementation of the PULSE Project

exchange study tour Project component 247. June 11, 2019 city of Severodonetsk IREX/PULSE On line work with the (Luhansk oblast) Prometheus platform 248. June 11, 2019 city of Uman IREX/PULSE Training (Cherkasy oblast) 249. June 11, 2019 town of Nemyriv (Lviv IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a oblast) discussion 250. June 11, 2019 village of Yevsuh IREX/PULSE Meeting with government (Luhansk oblast) representatives 251. June 11, 2019 city of Volochysk IREX/PULSE Skype meeting (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 252. June 11, 2019 city of Kramatorsk IREX/PULSE On site consultation point (Donetsk oblast) 253. Study tour within the framework of the «Itinerary of Successes» nation-wide June 11 - 12, 2019 city of Lutsk AUC/PULSE exchange study tour Project component for local government representatives 254. June 12, 2019 village of Ivaniv AUC/PULSE Vinnytsya AUC RO, Press (Vinnytsya oblast) tour 255. June 12, 2019 city of (Lviv AUC/PULSE Lviv AUC RO, Press tour oblast) 256. Regional legislation June 12, 2019 city of Uzhgorod AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Zakarpattya AUC RO 257. Regional legislation June 12, 2019 city of Burshtyn AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Ivano-Frankivsk AUC RO 258. June 12, 2019 city of Berdychiv IREX/PULSE Quest (Zhytomyr oblast) 259. June 12, 2019 city of Nemyriv IREX/PULSE Street information point (Vinnytsya oblast) 260. June 12, 2019 village of Hrun (Sumy IREX/PULSE Study tour oblast) 261. June 12, 2019 city of Horodok IREX/PULSE Public picnic (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 262. June 12, 2019 town of Yakymivka IREX/PULSE Seminar (Zaporizzhya oblast) 263. June 12, 2019 village of Kozyn (Rivne IREX/PULSE Live library oblast) 264. June 13, 2019 town of Znob- AUC/PULSE Sumy AUC RO, Press tour Nobhorodka (Sumy oblast) 265. June 13, 2019 village of Velykyi AUC/PULSE Chernivtsi AUC RO, Press Kuchuriv (Chernivtsi tour oblast) 266. June 14, 2019 town of Novi AUC/PULSE Poltava AUC RO, Press tour Sanzhary

118 April – June, 2019

(Poltava oblast) 267. June 14, 2019 city of AUC/PULSE Chernihiv AUC RO, Press (Chernihiv oblast) tour 268. June 14, 2019 town of Bratslav IREX/PULSE Quest (Vinnytsya oblast) 269. June 14, 2019 city of Mariupol IREX/PULSE Meeting with government (Donetsk oblast) representatives 270. June 14, 2019 city of Lyman IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a (Donetsk oblast) discussion 271. June 15, 2019 village of Chmyrivka IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Luhansk oblast) 272. June 16, 2019 village of Zvanivka IREX/PULSE Street information and (Donetsk oblast) consultation point 273. June 17, 2019 village of Pavlivka IREX/PULSE Meeting with government (Volyn oblast) representatives 274. June 18, 2019 city of Odesa AUC/PULSE Dialogue Day with Government Representatives and Resources for Communities Fair of Projects within the framework of the 15th Ukrainian Municipal Forum 275. June 18, 2019 city of Vynohradiv IREX/PULSE Modelling community (Zakarpattya oblast) development 276. June 18, 2019 town of Hnizdychiv IREX/PULSE Skype consultations with (Lviv oblast) PULSE Project regional consultants 277. June 18, 2019 village of Buzivka IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Cherkasy oblast) 278. June 18, 2019 town of Kostryzhivka IREX/PULSE Round table discussion (Chernivtsi oblast) 279. June 19, 2019 village of Palanka AUC/PULSE Dnipropetrovsk AUC RO, (Cherkasy oblast) study tour within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 280. June 19, 2019 town of Pischane IREX/PULSE Public hearings (Poltava oblast) 281. June 20, 2019 village of Mykhailivka IREX/PULSE Quiz (Rivne oblast)

282. June 20, 2019 city of Siversk IREX/PULSE On site information and (Donetsk oblast) consultation point 283. June 20, 2019 city of Lyman IREX/PULSE Watching a video with a (Donetsk oblast) discussion

284. June 21, 2019 village of Solobkivtsi AUC/PULSE Khmelnytskyi AUC RO, Press (Khmelnytskyi oblast) tour

119 QUARTERLY REPORT for the implementation of the PULSE Project

285. June 21, 2019 Regional legislation city of Dnipro AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Dnipropetrovsk AUC RO 286. June 21, 2019 city of Kreminna IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Luhansk oblast) 287. June 21, 2019 city of Balta (Odesa IREX/PULSE Meeting and dialogue oblast) 288. June 23, 2019 village of Smolyhiv IREX/PULSE Meeting with government (Volyn oblast) representatives 289. June 24, 2019 village of IREX/PULSE Brain ring Nedoboyivtsi (Chernivtsi oblast) 290. June 25, 2019 town of Kolomak AUC/PULSE Kharkiv AUC RO, study tour (Kharkiv oblast) within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 291. June 25, 2019 town of Kolomak AUC/PULSE Kharkiv AUC RO, Press tour (Kharkiv oblast) 292. June 25, 2019 town of Slobozhanske AUC/PULSE Dnipropetrovsk AUC RO, (Dnipropetrovsk study tour within the oblast) framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 293. Regional legislation June 25, 2019 city of Zaporizzhya AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Zaporizzhya AUC RO 294. Regional legislation June 25, 2019 city of Lviv AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Lviv AUC RO 295. Regional legislation June 25, 2019 city of Cherkasy AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Cherkasy AUC RO 296. June 25, 2019 town of Dublyany IREX/PULSE Mapping (Lviv oblast) 297. June 26, 2019 city of Tyachiv AUC/PULSE Zakarpattya AUC RO, study (Zakarpattya oblast) tour within the framework of the "Itinerary of Successes" nation-wide exchange study tour Project component 298. June 26, 2019 city of Tyachiv AUC/PULSE Zakarpattya AUC RO, Press (Zakarpattya oblast) tour 299. June 26, 2019 city of Rzhyschiv (Kyiv AUC/PULSE Kyiv AUC RO, Press tour oblast) 300. Regional legislation June 26, 2019 city of Khmelnytskyi AUC/PULSE application laboratory in the Khmelnytskyi AUC RO 301. June 26, 2019 town of Chernihivka IREX/PULSE Information quest (Zaporizzhya oblast)

120 April – June, 2019

302. June 26, 2019 town of Komysh- IREX/PULSE Workshop Zorya (Zaporizzhya oblast) 303. June 26, 2019 city of Bar (Vinnytsya IREX/PULSE Information point oblast) 304. June 26, 2019 town of Smyha (Rivne IREX/PULSE Modelling community oblast) development 305. June 26, 2019 city of Lviv (Lviv IREX/PULSE Meeting with government oblast) representatives 306. June 26, 2019 village of Velyka Volya IREX/PULSE On site consultation point (Lviv oblast) 307. June 26, 2019 town of Chemyrivtsi IREX/PULSE Skype meeting with a (Khmelnytskyi oblast) neighbouring community 308. June 27, 2019 Publication of the “YOUTH AND COMMUNITY: CHANGES FOR The SAKE OF AUC/PULSE THE FUTURE”, thematic book of success stories dedicated to the Youth Day 309. June 27, 2019 city of Siversk IREX/PULSE Meeting with government (Donetsk oblast) representatives 310. June 27, 2019 town of Tomashpil IREX/PULSE Meting and dialogue (Vinnytsya oblast) 311. June 29, 2019 village of Stanyshivka IREX/PULSE Meeting (Zhytomyr oblast) 312. June 29, 2019 village of Voyevodske IREX/PULSE Information fair (Luhansk oblast) 313. June 29, 2019 village of Vita- IREX/PULSE Street consultation point Poshtova (Kyiv oblast) 314. June 29, 2019 village of Slout (Sumy IREX/PULSE Street consultation point oblast) 315. June 30, 2019 town of Hrytsiv IREX/PULSE Street consultation point (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 316. June 29, 2019 village of Solobkivtsi IREX/PULSE Information fair (Khmelnytskyi oblast) 317. June 30, 2019 city of Novyi Rozdil IREX/PULSE Flash mob (Lviv oblast)

121 QUARTERLY REPORT for the implementation of the PULSE Project Annex B -Governmental Organisation ity Support Non-Governmental Project selected for funding conduct ing citizen Name of the non-governmental organisation Buzivchany Union Non-Governmental Organisation Path of Good Non-Governmental Organisation Building the Future Together Non-Governmental Organisation Bukovyna Association of Agricultural Extension Services Ust-Putyla Zlahoda Village Non Steps towards the Future Non-Governmental Organisation Skarbnychka Non-Governmental Organisation Kramatorsk Pensioners Non-Governmental Wings Center for Public Activ Organisation Mariupol Development Foundation Non-Governmental Organisation Magic Runes Non-Governmental Organisation Is Now TimeYour Non-Governmental Organisation Affiliation – thin the framework of the PULSE Library nmental organisations who were (from April, 2019 till September, 2019) Buzivka Village Library Uman Centralized City Library System Nizhyn City Centralized Library System Klishkivtsi Village Library # 3 Village Library of the village of Ust- Putyla Library of the Kostryzhivka Secondary School Village Library village of Nedoboivtsi Library Affiliation #2 of the Kramatorsk Centralized Library System Central City Library of the Lyman Centralized Library System V. Sosyura Donetsk Oblast Library for Children Zvanivka Village Library Siversk Library City Dunayivtsi City Library engagement information events wi atives of libraries and non-gover City/village/CTC Buzivska CTC (selection Uman of city date has not been identified, work in the is process) (selection Nizhyn of city date has not been identified, work in the is process) Klishkovetska CTC Ust-Putylska CTC Kostryzhivska CTC Nedoboivska CTC Kramatorsk of city (selection date has not been identified, work is in the process) CTC Lymanska (selection Mariupol of city date has not been identified, work in the is process) Zvanivska CTC Siverska CTC Dunayevetska CTC City

Oblast Oblast Cherkasy Cherkasy Chernihiv Chernivtsi Chernivtsi Chernivtsi Chernivtsi Donetsk Donetsk Donetsk Donetsk Donetsk Khmelnytskyi Cohort 3 of teams of represent # 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

122 April – June, 2019 Prosperous Village Non-Governmental – Old Volyn Old Volyn Non-Governmental Organisation Starokostyantyniv Is not Indifferent Non-Governmental Organisation Khmelnytskyi Oblast Department (Affiliation) of the Ukraine- Wide Ukrainian Library Association Non-Governmental Organisation ATO Participant of the Town of Chemyrivtsi and Chemyrivtsi Rayon Non-Governmental Organisation Horodok Perlyna Rayon Non-Governmental Organisation We Act for Community Development Non-Governmental Organisation Ukraine-Wide Initiative Non-Governmental Organisation Policy Expertise Center Non-Governmental Organisation Unity Community Organisation Luhansk Department Oblast of the Ukrainian Library Association Our Community Kreminna Center for Regional Development Non-Governmental Organisation Yevsuh Acts Non-Governmental Organisation Hrytsiv TownHrytsiv Library Starokostyantyniv Central Rayon Library Chornyi Ostriv Library Volochysk Central Library Chemyrivtsi Rayon Library Central Library of the Horodok City Council Yarmolyntsi Central Rayon Library Solobkivtsi Affiliation Library of the Yarmolyntsi Centralized Library System Nemishaeve City Library Skvyra Central Rayon Library Yurivka Village Library M. Horkyi Luhansk Universal Oblast Scientific Library Kreminna Centralised Rayon Library System Library Village Yevsuh Hrytsivska CTC Starokostyantyniv of city (selection date has not been identified, work is in the process) Chornoostrivska CTC Volochyska CTC Chemerovetska CTC Horodotska CTC Yarmolyntsi of town (selection date has not been identified, work is in the process) Solobkovetska CTC town of Nemishaeve (selection date has not been identified, work is in the process) (selection Skvyra of city date has not been identified, work in the is process) village of Vita-Poshtova (selection date has not been identified, work is in the process) Starobilsk of city (selection date has not been identified, work is in the process) Kremminna of city (selection date has not been identified, work is in the process) Bilovodska CTC

Khmelnytskyi Khmelnytskyi Khmelnytskyi Khmelnytskyi Khmelnytskyi Khmelnytskyi Khmelnytskyi Khmelnytskyi Kyiv Kyiv Kyiv Luhansk Luhansk Luhansk 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27.

123 QUARTERLY REPORT for the implementation of the PULSE Project -Governmental Organisation Chmyrivskyi Svitanok Non-Governmental Organisation Krasnorichenske Initiative Non Siverskyi Donets Crisis Media Center Non-Governmental Organisation Shulhynski Zori Non-Governmental Organisation Troitska Non-Governmental Nadiya Organisation Novyi Rozdil Youth Regional Foundation Initiatives Non- Governmental Organisation Region Agency for Economic Development Public Union Youth Local Self-Governance Support Committee Non- Governmental Organisation Oberih Hnizdychiv Non-GovernmentalOrganisation Korovai International Charity Foundation Charity Organisation Trostyanets Art Center Non-Governmental Organisation Reni Our Heritage Rayon Non-Governmental Organisation Balta Rayon Organisation of Persons with Disabilities Non- Governmental Organisation Chmyrivska Library Village of the Center of Culture and Leisure of the Chmyrivka Village Council of the Starobilsk Rayon Krasnorichenske Library for Adults and Children Severodonetsk Public City Library Affiliation Library # 29 of the Starobilsk Regional Centralized Library System Voyevodivka Village Library Novyi Rozdil Centralized City Library System Affiliation Library of the town of Nemyriv of the Yavoriv Yu. Lypa Central Regional Library Affiliation Library of the town of Ivano- Frankove of the Yavoriv Yu. Lypa Central Regional Library I. Franko Library Public of the Dublyany Town Council Information Center Library of Intellectual Development of the Town Hnizdychiv Council L. Ukrainka Central City Library of the village of Velyka Volya Reni Rayon Children Library Balta Public Library of the Balta City Council Chmyrivska CTC Krasnorichenska CTC Severodonetsk of city (selection date has not been identified, work is in the process) village of Shylhynka date(selection has not been identified, work is in the process) Troitska CTC city of Novyi Rozdil (in the process of unification) Nemyriv of town (selection date has not been identified, work is in the process) town of Ivano-Frankove (selection date has not been identified, work is in the process) Dublyanska CTC Hnizdychivska CTC date (selection Lviv of city has not been identified, work the in process) is Trostyanetska CTC ofcity Reni (selection date has not been identified, work in the is process) Baltska CTC

Luhansk Luhansk Luhansk Luhansk Luhansk Lviv Lviv Lviv Lviv Lviv Lviv Lviv Odesa Odesa 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41.

124 April – June, 2019 overnmental Organisation Good Deeds Non-Governmental Organisation – RADIUS Non-Governmental Organisation ZEON City Development Center Non-Governmental Organisation Village Development Support Non-Governmental Organisation Zlahoda Shepetyn Village Non-Governmental Organisation of the Dubno Rayon of eth Rivne Oblast Dobrivchanka Dobryvody Village Non-Governmental Organisation Krupets Syaivo Village Non-G Hrunska Community Development Fund Non-Governmental Organisation Sloutska Non-Governmental Organisation Trostyanets Region Family Circle Non-Governmental Organisation World of Information Association of Users of the Bar Rayon Library Non-Governmental Organisation Hope of Tomashpil Region Non-Governmental Organisation RegionalBratslav Development Institute Non-Governmental Organisation Podillya Wing of Hope Non-Governmental Organisation Non-Governmental Organisation Plus Meta Association of Librarians of the Zakarpattya Region Non- Governmental Organisation PROLISOK-BERDYANSK Non-Governmental Organisation Pischane Town Library Zdolbuniv Centralised System of Public School Libraries of the Zdolbuniv Rayon Council of the Rivne Oblast Karpylivka Public Library Smyha Central Library of the Smyha Council Town Kozyn Central Library of the Kozyn Village Council Public School Library of the village of Mykhailivka Hrunivka Village Library Slout Village Library Trostyanets Public Library of the Trostyanets City Council Bar Rayon Library Tomashpil Rayon Library Bratslav Public Library Centralised Library System of the Nemyriv City Council Sarny Village Library Pavlivka Village Library Library Rayon Vynohradiv Berestove Village Library Osypenko Village Library Pischanska CTC Zdolbuniv of city (selection date has not been identified, work is in the process) Klesivska CTC Smyzka CTC Kozynska CTC Krupetska CTC Hrunska CTC Berezivska CTC Torstyanetska CTC Barska CTC Tomashpilska CTC Bratslavska CTC Nemyrivska CTC Smolyhivska CTC Pavlivska CTC the (in Vynohradiv of city process of unification) Berestivksa CTC CTCOsypenkivska

Poltava Rivne Rivne Rivne Rivne Rivne Sumy Sumy Sumy Vinnytsya Vinnytsya Vinnytsya Vinnytsya Volyn Volyn Zakarpattya Zaporizzhya Zaporizzhya 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59.

125 QUARTERLY REPORT for the implementation of the PULSE Project hiv Rayonhiv Non-Governmental Association of Learning Cities Non-Governmental Organisation Ortega-and-Gaset Non-Governmental Organisation Mercenary of Ukraine Non-Governmental Organisation Public Control in the Cherni Organisation Komysh-Zorya Citizen Union Non-Governmental Organisation CT-art Non-Governmental Organisation Youth Chooses Life Berdychiv City Non-Governmental Organisation TIME Non-Governmental Organisation Student Club Youth Organisation Non-Governmental Organisation Good Deeds Berdychiv City and Rayon Non-Governmental Organisation Melitopol Rayon Central Library City Library city of Tokmak Library Village Snihurivka Shyroke Village Library Chernihiv Town Library Komysh-Zorya Town Library Yakymivka Centralised Library System of the Yakymivka Town Council Berdychiv City Library Library of the village of Stanyshivka Library Zhytomyr National I. Franko University Krasivka Village Library TOTAL: 70TOTAL: communities, 70 libraries,64 NGOs village of Semenivka (selection date has not been identified, work is in the process) (selection Tokmak of city date has not been identified, work in the is process) Ostrykivska CTC Shyrokivska CTC Chernihivska CTC Komysh-Zoryanska CTC Yakymivska CTC Berdychiv of city (selection date has not been identified, work is in the process) Stanyshivska CTC Hlybochytska CTC Semenivska CTC

Zaporizzhya Zaporizzhya Zaporizzhya Zaporizzhya Zaporizzhya Zaporizzhya Zaporizzhya Zhytomyr Zhytomyr Zhytomyr Zhytomyr

60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70.

126